'Less About Lyrics... More About Hooks'

It's been six years since The Presets last dropped an album, but it's been ten years since they've delivered an undisputed success. After the colossal boost in popularity that followed 2008's incendiary Apocalypso album, the pair opted for the unexpected and delivered the (comparatively) sedate Pacifica in 2012, which didn't seem to go down as well.

"It's so tricky," Moyes says. "Pacifica was very much the album we needed to make at that specific time; after Apocalypso and especially with what was going on in dance music at that time. We were on the crest of a wave in 2007/8; that wave of indie-dance music around Digitalism, Cut Copy - it was 'all up for it' and party-party. And then that sort of spilled over into dubstep and EDM.

"It started to become something that we just couldn't see ourselves following. Honestly, Julian [Hamilton, vocals/synths] and I both found it really hard to summon up the level of energy of Apocalypso. There was stuff going on in our lives that made it impossible. So, we made the record that we needed to make then and, clearly, we disappointed a lot of people."

But taken on its own merits Pacifica is an outstanding album. It simply suffered by comparison in following arguably one of the most intensely celebrated dance music albums in Australian history. However, The Presets' fourth album Hi Viz may actually deliver what many wanted from Pacifica. It is electric.

"We were called in to replace a major band at a festival in 2013 or something and we came off stage and we just looked at each other and went, 'Let's make a really fun record next time'," Moyes says. "I don't know what it was about that gig in particular, but we looked back on touring and back on Pacifica and we just decided we wanted to make a really fun, quirky record.

"So, even before we started working on it, we had a very clear idea of what we were trying to go for. And, to be honest, we've never really had that in place before we started working on an album before. On one level, [this] makes things much easier, but, in another way, [it] gives you a very clear standard and idea that you just know when you're not hitting it."

To clarify, Hi Viz sounds nothing like Apocalypso. Or, at the very least, it is as removed from Apocalypso in texture as Pacifica. There's strange lines, surprising genres and just outright weirdness - everything from skittering half-step rhythms to Afrobeat choruses - but it is inescapably electrifying. Like Apocalypso, it has an energy that is relentless.

"It really was a long writing process," Moyes points out. "We got to a point where we had, like, 30, 40 ideas that we felt were really strong and had a flavour that we liked. So, we sent all of them to our A&R guy who knows us really well. He listened to it all and came back to us: 'Listen, just fuck off all the sad stuff and focus on all the blistering, energetic stuff.' And, we were like, 'Fuck, yeah!''"

In a strange way, the album advances The Presets sound while bringing the pair back to their roots. In stark contrast to every previous release from the band, Hi Viz features a suite of guest vocalists and musicians - including Alison Wonderland, DMA'S and more. But, far from a departure, this more collaborative approach has brought Moyes and Hamilton back to their original vision of the project.

"When we started out, Julian was never going to be the vocalist," Moyes reflects. "You know, we were just producing beats. We saw things as more of a Chemical Brothers thing, where we'd bring in vocalists for each song. So, with this one, we've actually got back to that pure electro idea we initially had. Even when Julian does sing, it's less about lyrics this time and more about hooks."