With their new albumGolden Timesdue out in July, Coda will play a rare Sydney headline show as part of Vivid 2016.

The quartet’s last release, the electronic and orchestral-infused instrumental rock LP Calling Mission Mu, came out in 2006. Golden Times is a long time coming, especially considering the record’s first single ‘Forces’ was released in 2009. But although it’s taken longer than initially anticipated, the extensive gestation period has proven beneficial.

“It had been 15 years or so for being in the band, so it did get a little bit claustrophobic,” says multi-instrumentalist Nick Wales. “It’s great to have some space away from it. When we’ve stepped away from it, we can see how gorgeous what we’ve made is.”

The key talking point when comparing Golden Times to earlier Coda releases is the fact that all of the songs feature vocals, courtesy of guests Royce Doherty, Jackie Marshall, Mélanie Pain, Jessica O’Donaghue and Jane Tyrrell.

Doherty sings on ‘Forces’, as well as the title track and the album highlight, ‘7am’. “Royce is an amazing songwriter,” Wales says. “Lyrically and melodically he’s just so amazing. And such a unique voice – it surfs that non-gender-specific edge, which is quite beautiful.”

Golden Times is as electronic as it is orchestral, with many tracks exhibiting a cinematic trip hop sound. By contrast, Marshall is more accustomed to blues and country music, which Coda embraced.

“We’ve always been into bands like Massive Attack and we were really into Basement Jaxx back in the day. A lot of those bands collaborated with singers that had a really unique quality to their voice,” Wales explains. “[Marshall has] such an amazing character to her voice and she does this really great yodelly vibrato thing. Having that country sound with what we were doing was something new for us as well. And lyrically she’s amazing – it’s so poetic what she does.”

Pain sings on the album track ‘Am I A Pony’. She is French, but that’s not the only element of the song that evokes thoughts of artists like Serge Gainsbourg and Air. “We were performing at a lot of fashion parades. We used to love how the girls would walk down the catwalk a little bit like a pony,” Wales says. “We wanted Melanie to be a part of the album and we thought, ‘We’ll get her to do the pony song.’ Having her involved made it that one step removed and a little bit more absurd.”

O’Donaghue and Tyrrell will be joining Coda onstage for the Vivid show. They each sing lead vocals on one Golden Times song, and appear together on ‘Run To Me’. Wales has worked with O’Donaghue many times in the past.

“We went to uni together. She used to sing in opera style with Coda when we used to do stuff at the Opera House. We love the quality of her voice. We didn’t want to have an operatic vibe, but her voice when she sings gently is so beautiful. We were going for a bit of a Goldfrappy vibe with her.”

Tyrrell is best known for working with The Herd and Urthboy, and released her solo album, Echoes In The Aviary, in 2014. Her various accomplishments grabbed the band’s attention. “We all just had such a mega crush on Jane, and then were so scared to call her,” says Wales. “And then we sent her a lot of our stuff and she said she’d love to [work with us]. We liked the depth and the beautiful tone in her voice. She brought a bit of a soul edge.”

As Wales explains, working with all the vocalists was a process of constant collaboration. “A lot of the songs we wrote, the band got the vibe together, and then we sent that to singers and got them to collaborate that way. Sometimes with us in the studio, sometimes apart, but we always came together to record.”

Golden Times by Coda isout Friday July 1 through Undercover/MGM. Get along to the Coda’sEP launch atCamelot LoungeFriday June 17, as part of Vivid Sydney.

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