Client Liaison

The release of the debut, self-titled Client Liaison EP last year consolidated a growing reputation built around their live show, winning over fans one dancefloor at a time. A penchant for refined pop songwriting underpins the duo’s alluring aesthetic – each track from the EP has been presented standalone at various stages alongside a film clip (the most recent of which, ‘Pretty Lovers’, gives its name to the new tour). Though the tracks resonate strongly, Client Liaison are yet to produce a crossover hit. I ask if they have one in them.

“Good question,” Miller says, as he opens up a MacBook, replete with rainbow Apple decal on the rear, on the coffee table in front of him. “We can play you some stuff?” He runs through snippets of four unreleased songs, all of which definitely sound like Client Liaison. One is called ‘Foreign Affair’. One has a ridiculous guitar solo. “That’s what we have going at the moment,” says Miller.

“We’ve been playing ‘Canberra Won’t Be Calling Tonight’ quite a bit,” Morgan adds. “And we’ve been playing ‘Hotel Stay’ quite a bit, and that’s unreleased. We’ve probably got five songs that we’re finishing off right now. We’re more excited to write new material. Some of that stuff is very old, written before the EP. We picked the tracks to finish for the EP and now we’re finishing what was left over. We’re interested in the next batch of songs after this tour, because we have a bit of time. We like those songs and those film clips, but for our next batch of songs we just want to write them, not make any promises they’ll be released, or have film clips, be singles, be album tracks. We don’t know. We just want to make a big collection of songs.”

“Then do the video clips,” Miller says.

“Not the other way around,” Morgan adds. “[The EP] was just to get music out there, plain and simple. There was no coherent sound. ‘Groove The Physical’ was the first song we ever wrote. At the time of releasing it, we didn’t think it was a good indication where we are at sonically. But we’re still happy with the song, we’re happy with the song. We’re not gonna get all high and mighty and ditch a song because we’re sick of listening to it.”

“For our EP, we were mixing our songs one by one,” Miller explains. “For the album, we want to mix a lot of songs with one person, together.”

The Pretty Lovers Tour is set to mark a high point in Client Liaison’s trajectory so far. “It’s all been incremental, in small steps,” Miller continues. “Though we’re proud of our songs and how they’ve resonated, we haven’t had one that’s had a million, or half a million, hits on YouTube or SoundCloud.”

“Every song has helped the cause,” Morgan says.

“There was Golden Plains,” recalls Miller, “then selling out our first headline show. Then supporting a big act. It’s all baby steps, not like, ‘Here’s the hit, here’s the world tour.’ We do [talk about] now where we want that next song to crossover. We feel like we’re at that point now, but it’s a hard thing to do. Again, it’s taking the next step. We’ve never had high rotation on triple j, even though they’ve supported us in so many wonderful ways. But still, we can sell out decent-size venues.”

One of Client Liaison’s biggest breakthroughs came two years ago as they took to the Golden Plains stage in a primetime slot, instantly gaining thousands of fans in the process. “That’s the most quantifiable step up that we’ve ever had,” Miller says. “When we came back, we had a headline show at The Toff, and I thought no-one was gonna come. We’d never put on our own show, just cutting our teeth at smaller venues. Then it was one of the quickest shows to sell out ever at The Toff.”

“But then we didn’t release anything for a while,” says Morgan. “It was fun to play on that stage. It takes a while to get your team and your strategy together. Behind the scenes, that takes a while. When our manager came on, he pushed us to do a new song every three months.”

Now, Client Liaison are looking ahead, looking at something big, as if they’re ready to float an IPO. “Last year was huge,” Morgan says. “Doing the clips, doing tours, doing support tours. Since October 2013 it’s been full on. Now we can take the time to think about the type of music we want to make.”

Says Miller, “You only get one shot at your first album.”