The Babe Rainbow have been leading busy lives of late. While it is disappointing to learn that none of the band members are actual rainbows, they make up for this deficiency with some of the freshest psychedelic pop tracks you’ve heard since… well, it’s hard to say. With a new tour just announced, the Byron Bay trio are still in something of a pupal stage, and comparisons to other acts are rather unnecessary. As Dr. Elliot Love-Wisdom explains, they’re making the most of this cresting wave, and as long as they can keep making music, they don’t seem to mind where the currents will lead.

“We all have these different characters, and a lot of it is spontaneous,” he says. Love-Wisdom sounds pleasantly bemused when we talk, and given we were expecting to be chatting with bandmate Angus Dowling, it’s possible he didn’t know he’d be fronting the interview until this moment. “It’s definitely nice to drive in the moment,” says the bassist. “I think that’s when the best material will come out – when everything is clear and you’re not thinking about the process too much.”

Planned or not, talking with Love-Wisdom is a true treat. His conversation is littered with vibrant analogies and unexpected turns, and he seems genuinely sincere in pondering the current shape of the band, not to mention the transformations ahead.

“More than ever now we appreciate our time together. We all still do a bit of work. Jack [Kool Breeze] builds gardens, Angus makes coffee and I make pizza at night, so our days are getting a bit more cramped. But it just means it’s all a little more special when we do get together. A few times a week we’ll get together and it will be like the old days. It all feels pretty natural, I guess. It’s exciting to get a bit more of the band stuff out there, something that’s away from the day-to-day. But I don’t think we’re as close as we’d like to be to our own sound.

“We just recorded our full-length album, and there are so many different time periods and styles there. Listening back to it now, we haven’t really narrowed down to any one thing. They all do have a collective sound, which is maturing, but I don’t think we’ve reached the peak with it all yet. It’s still exciting, and it gives us the energy to evolve. I think with a few more albums we’ll be even more distinctive.”

The fact The Babe Rainbow’s first LP has yet to drop and they are already peering off into the potential speaks volumes about the band’s ambitions. Their ‘Ash May And Dr. Lovewisdom’ single tour is unfolding throughout July, with a self-titled EP due in August, and the album to arrive a few months after that – busy times for a band still seeding its sound.

“The EP is kind of lagging behind a little bit from a few months ago,” Love-Wisdom admits. “We’d finished some of those songs a year ago, but it’s hard getting things out as quickly as you’d like. But this album kind of happened really quickly, and we’re so keen to get it out so we can keep moving forward. So that’s not going to be too far away at all; sometime in October or November, I think. That’s going to be amazing, all of the touring to come.

“The next six months are all mapped out on paper now – lots of action. That business side of things has been going really well. Things can move forward without us pushing it all the time, and [it] gives us more time to focus on the music. So far, it’s been great. We love the team around us. Nothing has been too cutthroat, you know?” he chuckles.

It’s interesting to hear Love-Wisdom sounding quite wistful for the adventures ahead. His heart is clearly enamoured with the idea of evolution, and the prospect of how the band will sound in five years’ time is anyone’s guess. The Babe Rainbow will keep moving forward, and if the development of their songs to date is any indication, there are even grander things ahead. Indeed, they have already travelled quite far from their prologue.

“We were a bit more reckless a few years ago. We were living in this house in the country, we were all just experimenting a bit heavily, but it was all beautiful. We were all a bit younger, none of us had much responsibility, it was all very loose. But as we got older, we’ve met our girlfriends, we got jobs, yada yada, it all becomes a bit more real. It’s nice to look back and see how the ball has rolled.

“A few of the songs that we’ve just recorded have gone through so many transformations. There are years of old riffs, little melodies, quirky little things lying around. Not much of it usually makes it to the recording, but then you’ll hear maybe a ghost of it a year later. It’s a good way to be reborn, I reckon. And then they fly off, like eagles.

“It’s amazing when you finally complete them. They sound so satisfied. You watch it grow up, it excites you, and then you stand away from it and see it more objectively. You enjoy it more after that growing process is complete, I think. You hope that they have a long life. You hope that they’re fruitful.”

The Babe Rainbowis out through Flightless/Remote Control on Friday August 7 and they play Beach Road Hotel on Wednesday July 8; Moonshine, Manly on Thursday July 9; Sweaty Betty’s, Miranda on Friday July 10; and Brighton Up Bar on Saturday July 11.

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