Good things come to those who wait – or so the old adage goes. It’s something fans of The Laurels have had little choice but to believe, it being three years and counting since the Sydney band’s debut album Plains.

Things weren’t made any easier for them last year, when guitarist and co-frontman Luke O’Farrell told an interviewer the important thing was “not to rush anything”, before quipping a follow-up “could take a year, it could take ten”.

Well, good news folks. The wait is over – almost. The new album, which is yet to be named, is fast approaching completion.

“It does get frustrating watching all these bands putting out album after album,” says O’Farrell’s fellow guitarist and vocalist Piers Cornelius. “I don’t enjoy it. But we’re getting there.”

So why the delay? The follow-up was first conceived when the band was in the US relentlessly touring Plains, playing alongside the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Black Angels and Deerhunter. The Laurels earned legions of fans Stateside with their trademark all-enveloping wall of guitars, but ended up running out of money.

“On that tour we realised we’d have to record this album ourselves. We always knew that,” says Cornelius. “We started exploring a lot of hip hop producers and found their ideas really interesting.”

There was not as much interest, however, for drummer Kate Wilson, who departed towards the end of last year. “We’re still good mates,” says Cornelius. “Kate has always been big on doing it live, so it didn’t really excite her so much recording an album to click tracks and cutting things up. That situation delayed us.”

No money, no drummer… “and we needed a bit of time to find a studio that we could start recording in and get the correct gear,” says Cornelius. “And work out who is going to be in the band.”

Finally, though, things are back on track, with the band setting up a studio in Redfern. “I say studio, it’s more like a little room,” Cornelius adds. “And the sound from everyone else who has a little room there leaks in. It’s not that fantastic, but we’ve kept costs down and we’re there weeknights and at the weekend.”

They’ve also found a new drummer in Jasper Fenton, formerly of Decoder Ring. “We first met Jasper at his show six or seven years ago and we’ve always been good mates. He guitar techs for our shows as well, tuning our guitars. Sometimes not so well, but it was a pretty easy decision on who it would be. He’s a great drummer.”

And they’ve got a new groove, too. “It’s not all just guitars this time. It’s a bit fresher for us,” says Cornelius.

As a tantalising taste of things to come, the teaser single ‘Zodiac K’, which came out in June, combines spaced-out guitars, a pounding breakbeat and a vocal sample of the late Formula One driver Ayrton Senna.

Wait a minute – inspired by hip hop producers? Sampling? Feeling “fresh”? What’s happening here? Are The Laurels moving into rap?

“I guess it would help if any of us had any skill at rapping. But no, really just the music behind it,” says Cornelius. “Someone said it sounded like DJ Premier or DJ Shadow or someone like that. That’s the drum sound we were going for, but I probably wouldn’t describe the music as that.”

So no longer – dare we say it – shoegaze? “I don’t know if you want to call it, er, shoegaze.” Psychedelic? “It’s always a weird one. I guess that’s more of a feeling than a certain type of sound. Because so many things can be summed up using that word.” What about neo-psych, as one gushing website recently dubbed them? “Yeah, right?! I don’t know about that one.”

What then? “My dad asked me that when I sent him some songs recently – ‘What do you call this?’ I just don’t know!” says Cornelius. “I’d not know how to describe it properly. I guess we’re trying to make something that is a studio album that isn’t just blasting guitars. What we’re doing now would probably be similar to The Stone Roses. They did their first album, then went all drum machine and made ‘Fools Gold’. Obviously none of our songs will ever be as good as ‘Fools Gold’, but that’s the stuff we’re more interested in now – plus Joy Division and the Happy Mondays.”

The Laurels’ second LP is slated for release early next year. In the meantime, with all that sampling going on, production has been a group effort.

“We don’t have to be all together as a band, rehearsing over and over again just to learn the songs for the complete, perfect take,” says Cornelius. “We can just come in, play something and sample it. One person will sit at the desk and work on it until they get bored, then someone else will take over. Once you’re pretty satisfied with it, you can switch off and the other guys will switch on. I feel safe going with what they think.

“We’re in a situation now where even if we lose our studio we can set up somewhere else. In the future, that will help speed us up and we’ll be a bit more – OK, not prolific, but hopefully not as many delays between releases!”

The Laurels appear at Volumes 2015, happening Saturday August 29 around Oxford Square (Oxford Art Factory, Brighton Up Bar and The Cliff Dive), with Jack Ladder and The Dreamlanders, Blank Realm, Canyons, Lower Spectrum and many more.

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