Sydney electronic three-piece Black Vanilla have recently released the first track, titled ‘Slug’, which is set to be a part of their second mixtape, and we had a quick chat with Marcus, Jarred and Lavurn about the brooding cut and their work together.

The collaborative project for the three young producers has been a primarily live act over the past few years and they’ve revealed that they are pleasantly surprised by the great support they’ve received for their most recently release from the likes of Triple J, whilst attributing some credit to their live sets.

“It’s easier to understand the music if you’ve seen it on stage as well”, Marcus admitted.

“We’re honestly surprised and humbled that more people have listened to ‘Slug’, and a bit shocked that it’s been supported well on radio.”

Despite a degree of surprise, the lads feel it’s a “flow on effect” from their live performances that’s contributed to the success of ‘Slug’.

The track has a resoundingly sinister vibe to it, and Marcus said this was a deliberate effort to add a new “dramatic” element to their live performances.

“That’s the main goal, really, to be so dramatic in our live performances that you can’t look away, ‘Slug’ is one of a few tracks in our set at the moment that are designed to smack in the butt a little bit.”

An obvious UK bass influence is evident in ‘Slug’, with Zebra Katz and Airhead cited as a “close touchstone” for the track.

“In some ways bass is more universal than other parts of the frequency spectrum.”

“I think our focus on bass is perhaps a bit more savant, more about us reacting to sounds in a phenomenal way when we’re making tracks, rather than thinking in terms of references to genres”, the 24-year-old producer stated.

The trio also confessed that the process for creating their lyrics is quite unorthodox and impulsive, yet purposeful.

“A lot of the lyrics for our songs are put together on the day of a show, or sometimes just in the half an hour before.”

“This one is charged with a bit of a hostile energy. It’s hard to say exactly who or what it’s directed towards, but it’s safe to say that we’re trying to fight against normative social hierarchies – of sexuality and of race mainly.”

Black Vanilla also discussed the reasons for opting towards mixtapes, instead of the more traditional album or EP release, and has set the glitch-ridden, bass-laden ‘Slug’ to be the first taste of the acts second mixtape.

“Our primary objective is to put together live shows, we get sick of material on about six monthly basis and usually it ends up in the bin.”