Royel Otis

In the organizer's words:

Sometimes it only takes one song to bring people together. Otis Pavlovic and Royel Maddell might never have started making music together if it hadn't been for the great sound of the 1976 single "Seabird" by Long Island duo the Alessi Brothers. This defining yacht rock anthem, which combines a little Steely Dan with a lot of soul and falsetto harmonies, was love at first sight for Pavolvic and Maddell. When the two relative strangers finally exchanged ideas for a possible project, they both knew exactly what they wanted it to sound like: Like "Seabird". Or "fucking flawless", as Maddell explains.

Pavlovic and Maddell barely knew each other before they went into the studio together, although Pavlovic was something of a regular at the Bondi Beach Bar where Maddell worked. A "dark, melancholy and dusty place" where Pavlovic often played pool with his mates and had a little admiration for the guy pouring beer behind the bar. One day in 2019, Pavlovic plucked up the courage and sent a demo of a song to this very man. "We'd been for a beer before and I knew he had good taste in music," Pavlovic recalls. Maddell liked what he heard and promptly suggested a collaboration, but Pavlovic had just left Australia to backpack through Europe. "Shit," laughs Pavlovic.

Once Pavlovic was back, they got to work, taking inspiration from everything from Daft Punk to The Strokes. Maddell set up a makeshift studio at his home and combined ideas he had been playing around with privately with Pavlovic's material. The duo quickly found the blueprint for their early sound - an incredibly summery kind of dream pop by the sea.