Breaking Artist: Cut Copy

Who: Melbourne, Australia's Cut Copy, an indie electro-pop trio who, after touring Down Under with Daft Punk, just released your new favorite summer album In Ghost Colours.

Sounds Like: Gary Numan on Prozac and ecstasy. The band adds sunny hooks and synth waves to sonic collages reminiscent of their countrymen the Avalanches. In Ghost Colours also has an eye towards the dance floor, thanks to the DFA's Tim Goldworthy, who produced the album. "Tim encouraged us to try using weird instruments we wouldn't have tried otherwise, and we had access to all the DFA guitar pedals, so it was a real opportunity to experiment," says frontman and multi-instrumentalist Dan Whitford.

Vital Stats:

• Struggling for lyrical inspiration for "Out There On the Ice," the band received a creative push from Tom Cruise. "Some of the lyrics are from Risky Business. I was re-watching it about a year ago, and the song's first lyric was from the film," says Hoey. "So I texted (singer) Dan (Whitford) and asked 'Did you get the lyrics from Risky Business?' And he was like 'Maybe I did, subconsciously.'"

• Resisting the urge to woo the dance world with singles, the band instead tries to create a musical journey with their albums, similar to their heroes Kraftwerk and the KLF. "We always want to write albums. We're not that interested in writing a hit single and becoming a mega huge pop band," says Hoey. "That's the one thing we’ll always try to do with our albums. We don't want people skipping songs."

• Cut Copy got a major boost when they were handpicked to open up for Daft Punk during that duo's Australian tour. "They were such lovely, down-to-earth people. Their band room was always open after the show, and they'd invite us in to drink champagne," says Hoey. So what does Daft Punk look like without the masks? "Sorry. We had to sign a disclosure agreement."

Hear It Now: In Ghost Colours is available now, and the band is currently touring the U.S. with the Black Kids. Click above for an exclusive performance/video of "Out There on the Ice."

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Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

More Song Stories entries »

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