The twins who brought you songs like ‘History’, ‘Walk With Me’ and ‘Talk To Me’ will be making your Boxing Day a whole lot better. Sydney producers, Cosmo’s Midnight, will be taking over the decks at Barwon Heads Hotel post-Christmas day as part of the annual Dancing Heads Music Festival, alongside Bag Raiders, Cassian and Dean Turnley.
“It’s something we’re really looking forward to because we don’t get too many opportunities to DJ, so we get to play music that we like and show the music we’re digging as well. Playing our stuff is really fun but getting to show people what we’re listening to is great. We love classic disco and house and that’s mainly what our sets go towards,” says Pat Liney.
The boys sure know a thing or two about getting the party started. Their 2019 releases, ‘C.U.D.I (Can You Did It)’ and ‘Have It All’ have been branded the summer festival songs of choice, and were born out of the energy of partying.
“We made those songs while drinking [laughs] so we wanted to feel good while writing music and having fun makes you write really fun upbeat tracks and we made ‘C.U.D.I (Can You Dig It)’ on New Years Day after this really cool warehouse party the night before so we were really in that energy. ‘Have It All’ was a similar thing where we were with people in Malibu and drinking Fosters on tap somewhere and we ended up writing that song and it has really fun disco party vibes. On that note, ‘It’s Love’, is a bit darker but I think it’s still a really fun track,” Liney explains.
As mentioned, ‘It’s Love’ is the newest release for Cosmo’s Midnight. Released late last month, and recorded in Tim Finn’s studio, ‘It’s Love’ shows a melancholic side to the rose-coloured partiers.
“‘It’s Love’ is exploring how relationships change and you change each other and you change as an individual in a relationship and it can sometimes be for the worst. We explore that in the song and then put this chuggy dance beat to it. It’s a different energy but I think it’s really important to show different sides of our writing because we don’t want to just make – we don’t want to just make really fun upbeat songs, we want to show more of a spectrum. Especially if you are writing an album, you want to show different sides to your artistry. With what we have been writing lately it has been exploring the honeymoon and in love moments in a relationship and the darker sides so it’s trying to cover a lot of territory in that sense and not just talk about the good stuff.”
As per majority of Cosmo’s Midnight tracks, the duo has pulled in yet another fresh collaborator. This time it’s the talented Auckland based singer-songwriter, Matthew Young, under the vocal spotlight. Having supported New Zealand royal, Lorde, in his first-ever live show with the Liney brothers watching from the crowd, they knew they had witnessed someone special.
“I was like ‘I have to work with him’ and was blown away by how talented he was. I knew at that point that I had to work with him.”
It was a flawless transition into the working arrangement with Young; one that was a few years in the making. Written and recorded in Neil Finn’s Roundhouse Studio in Auckland and finished earlier this year during an extra couple of day stay at Young’s home following the twin’s stint as Laneway entourage, Young slide in perfectly to the twin’s songwriting dynamic.
“Writing with someone you’ve never met is like speed dating I guess. You want to get to common ground quickly and get writing and hope that energy is there. It’s daunting writing a song with someone you’ve met before. It’s been a few years in the making.”
He continues, “When it comes to writing music Cosmo and I definitely don’t need to talk that much. It’s just ‘my turn’, ‘my turn’ and we just keep swapping around until the track is done. We have different tastes but we know what a track needs and offer different sides to a track, so bringing someone else into that mix is really going to shake things up.”
A new track, talk of writing in the works; this begs the question: Is there a new album on the way for Cosmo’s Midnight?
“I did just spill it a bit,” Liney laughs.
Watch this space for announcements and catch Cosmo’s Midnight DJ set at Dancing Heads Music Festival, Barwon Head Hotel on Thursday 26 December.
Tickets via Eventbrite.
Written by Tammy Walters