Their moody pop-rock songs have won them numerous awards and fans around the world, but New Zealand band Evermore say they are throwing away the formula on their new album.
The three Hume brothers of Evermore - Jon, Peter and Dann - are currently holed up in Victoria, Australia building a studio, while working on the follow-up to their first two releases, the 2004 debut Dreams, and Real Life, which was released in 2006.
The trio, who now call Australia home, say the new material will surprise their fans.
‘‘It's sounding pretty different to the last two albums,'' said singer Jon. ‘‘Even though we've put two albums out I feel like we're still young as a band and we're still in the process of finding out exactly what kind of music we want to make.
‘‘It's got a bit more of an electronic edge to it. I think a lot of it would definitely surprise [our fans].''
Jon is producing the album himself, and said the as-yet untitled record is shaping up as a ‘‘concept album''. The 24-year-old revealed the band was using some unusual songwriting techniques on this release.
‘‘At the moment, it's working that Dann's doing a lot of songwriting and he'll do a demo of a song that sounds completely not produced on an acoustic guitar and he almost does a folkie rock version of a lot of the songs,'' he said.
‘‘And then by the time I'm finished working on it, it sounds completely and utterly different.
‘‘It's kind of a cool collision of our different styles as writers and it sort of creates something that neither of us could have come up with on our own.''
There is no due date for the album yet but Jon said they are aiming for a September or October release.
Jon and Dann will share their expertise with a host of up-and-coming songwriters at the inaugural Song Summit Sydney from April 3-5.
The Hume brothers are among an impressive line-up of music professionals, including The Shins' James Mercer, Sandi Thom, Josh Pyke, Jimmy Webb, Savage Garden's Daniel Jones, and Jenny Morris, who will give songwriters feedback on their work.
‘‘It's always interesting to find out how creative people come up with their ideas and where they come from - whether they're inspired by other music, of their own experiences, or what,'' Jon said.
‘‘It's not like there's only one way of making good music - everyone's got a different approach.''
The Evermore frontman promises he won't be too harsh on any of the compositions. ‘‘I think I'm pretty diplomatic,'' he said. ‘‘I'm not like the guy from American Idol, Simon Cowell. ‘‘People get knocked around enough in the music industry without me adding to it.'' - AAP/Alyssa Braithwaite
