A New Habitat

Dave Hosking, the frontman of sweet indie folk outfit Boy & Bear, is huddled on his flatmate's floor, next to a window, desperately trying to get reception on his mobile phone for our interview.

“There is no reception in my room!” laughs the affable Hosking, who at the time of this interview was gearing up for his band's appearance at Splendour In The Grass.

Boy & Bear are that remarkable breed of band that demolishes the award side of things, with their 2011 debut, Moonfire, nabbing five of the six ARIAs it was up for, while still remaining just on the outer of the 'popular' sphere – shadowdancing the charts and managing to gain a decent following while still keeping their clout. The opportunity to evolve as a band that “had nothing to prove” probably explains the laid-back and creatively spiritual attitude Hosking and his band - Killian Gavin, Tim and Jon Hart, Dave Symes and now previous bassist Jake Tarasenko (more on him later) - had when they headed back into the studio to record album number two, Harlequin Dream.

“I think this time around, we'd earned our stripes,” Hosking explains. “We decided this time to trust our instincts and do something which was meaningful. In terms of musical ideas, that meant not straying too far from what the purpose of the album was, and to not just put in things, like sound effects, just to try and make it moodier or edgy.”

Fuelled by a frustration over current radio trends, which Hosking describes as “not ambiguous, but just atmospheric, moody songs,” the group set out to create “easy to consume songs,” taking inspiration from just about everything – including jazz… and pop.

“I think there was a real realisation that the old stuff is really clever and ingenious, and then as we dug deeper we realised it's not that easy to pull off,” Hosking laughs, adding, “they're hopefully songs that people can sing along to.”

It's a feat the band appear to have pulled off. Their folky swagger remains, but this time there's a multifaceted richness to the sound that seemed lacking in Moonfire, which Hosking puts down to a newfound confidence within the band.

“I think we went into a different creative space for this album. I mean, I think in Moonfire, much of the focus of that was trying so hard not to sound like certain bands, which in itself can be quite a negative way of working, but can be quite effective, because it forces you to step outside your comfort zone.”

Work on Harlequin Dream began in Hosking's living room, a markedly different genesis to the songs on Moonfire, with its eclectic Nashville origins.

“I started writing about two months after we got back from Nashville. I felt like Nashville was a little distressing at times, because I just didn't have the motivation to start writing over there.”

The album was recorded in Sydney's iconic Alberts Studio, the spiritual home of AC/DC, and was overseen by Wayne Connolly, who has worked with the likes of Silverchair, Grinspoon and Neil Finn, the latter inadvertently responsible for the band and Connolly's pairing, when they joined forces to work on a cover of Finn's Fall At Your Feet.

“He [Wayne] brought a lot – he brought so much more than I thought he would. Not that I underestimated Wayne in any way, but… we were just so driven this time around to do it ourselves, and originally that was the plan – to just go in… the five of us with just an engineer – but our management team convinced us just to do a session with someone like Wayne, and it just went so well.”

Connolly, says Hosking, effortlessly slotted in as the group's sixth member. Or fifth, after the departure of original bass player Jake Tarasenko last year. “I mean, look, by the end of it, Jake was unhappy,” Hosking admits. “The band situation isn't for everyone; it's not a lifestyle that everyone enjoys and that can really take its toll on people…” he drifts off before adding, “it's also really hard seeing someone you've worked with for a long time never seem content. We have a new bass player, Dave Symes. He's a bit older and he's been around the traps and he's a different kind of bass player.”