Melbourne-based duo Mystic Tea Party bring their captivating brand of alternative rock to Geelong this weekend.
Vocalist Blume and guitarist/producer Sebastian Walach have made waves since the release of their first single I’m Addicted early last year with their eclectic blend of genres.
Ranging from electronic rock to trip-hop, grunge to shoegaze, Mystic Tea Party have a sound that is both familiar and unique. Blume’s pure, delicate vocals soar over Walach’s multilayered soundscapes, which are sometimes dreamy and hypnotic, sometimes driving and angular.
The duo formed when Blume, recently returned to Melbourne after four years in Europe, and Walach, a programmer originally from Poland, met in 2021 and discovered in each other the urge to create.
“We met at the end of lockdown and pretty much straight away started writing music together,” Blume said.
“We were just experimenting with creating to start with, we weren’t really trying to start a band or anything. We just wrote some songs and then wrote I’m Addicted, and we were like, wow, maybe we should actually release this.”
By the time the second round of lockdowns began, the pair, then calling themselves Quarantine Baby, realised they were on to something.
More singles, music videos and a live performance aesthetic followed. Early in the piece the duo added bassist Adam Brown and drummer Aaron Muller for their live shows, also bringing them into the studio to record Honey, their first single of 2024.
Walach said having a full band sound for live performance was important for the experience they were trying to create.
“We really wanted people to move, we wanted to insert loud, rock vibes into the gig,” he said.
“In the beginning we tried to play with just the two of us, but it felt a little bit like a pop band, with lots of backing (tracks) and just me playing guitar.
“It just didn’t feel authentic.”
Blume said they wanted to take their audiences to “another world” with their live shows.
“We want it to be a different experience,” they said.
“We pretty much straight away invested in our own lights and visuals because we wanted it to be a fully immersive experience, with all the senses.”
Mystic Tea Party are at the Barwon Club on Sunday, July 7 at 7pm, supported by Lucy’s Disorder and Surf Coast alt rockers blyss.
