How Boo Seeka's New Album Is "Like A Photo Album"

Indie-electronica duo Boo Seeka, comprised of Newcastle's Ben Gumbleton and Sydney DJ Sam Croft, came into 2017 running. On the back of three massive singles since 2015 — Kingdom Leader, Deception Bay and Fool — they've been touring non-stop since February, around the world in 40 shows. All from the jump of an encounter between two blokes at a pub - hardly grounds for their apparent success.  

"I'd never known Sam until four days prior to going into the studio to write Kingdom Leader," tells Gumbleton. "We wrote that and Deception Bay on the same day after just throwing around ideas in the studio. Then a week later Kim Churchill heard Kingdom Leader and offered us a spot on his tour." But with only two songs for a proposed half-hour set, five days later Croft and Gumbleton found themselves "in a car writing music to perform that night."

Deception Bay landed smack in the middle of triple j's Hottest 100 (2016), Boo Seeka headed out on a national tour, and played packed tents at both Splendour In The Grass and Groovin' The Moo. When asked whether he had any clue that Boo Seeka would experience such a rapid rise, Gumbleton admits, "Hell, fucking no! I know it's probably the most cliched thing to say, but there's no way in a million years I'd have thought we'd be where we are by any means."

Due to a heaving tour schedule, their new album Never Too Soon was devised in any downtime they could find. "We don't find any boundaries to [writing] music," Gumbleton explains. "I mean, there's no right or wrong — to record a loop on a mobile phone in a carpark then fuck with it on the computer. 

"There's parts of samples in there that we can hear a car horn in the background. It was just by sheer miracle that it just happened to be in the same damn key! It's had a major influence on how this record has unfolded and definitely the environment has played a huge part in the textures of this whole album. It's got a really unique sound and I'm really proud of that".

Given the rich atmospherics and sonic exploration on the album, each track finds its own emotive surface for a story. It's no wonder The Maitland Mercury once referred to this duo's art as a "dream-tronica, soul and folk hybrid". However, for Gumbleton and Croft, the album is chock-full of Kodak moments. "In a way, this whole album for me and Sam is like a photo album because we listen to it from front to back and we're like, 'Remember when we did that sample on a plane heading to Nashville?' and, 'Remember when we did that in a car park in Portland?' It's been a massive travel diary for us."