Picture it: verdant fields, a line of distant trees. Sunflowers and lavender. Top it off with an 18th century water tower transformed into a recording studio, and you have the setting for The Dø’s fourth release,Shake Shook Shaken. Given that one of the hallmarks of the record is the complete absence of acoustic instruments, it’s an unexpected place to draw inspiration, though setting has never been one of Olivia Merilahti’s chief concerns.

“I think it’s not as important for me,” says the singer-songwriter. “I can write on the road, be inspired wherever I am. I’ll just get away, you know? If I don’t like where I am I’ll just write a song. It’s like escapism. But at the same time, I don’t think we ever really realised how important [location] is. For example, we recorded this album in the countryside, but we’d already decided that we wanted somehow an urban album, something close to the city, with horizontal and vertical lines. We finished ‘Anita No!’ in New York – we re-recorded it completely there and that was crucial. We were really inspired by New York, so it has a different energy – I think it’s a little bigger than the other songs, which is interesting. So obviously, whether we like it or not, we’re influenced by the places we record.”

For those uninitiated with the French/Finnish duo, a fine place to start with The Dø is their live recording of ‘Slippery Slope’ from Studio Pigalle. Full of gorgeous horns and tribal drums, the energy there is incredible. It does make for a curious contrast, however, now that the band has moved into this new, electronic direction. Borne from the practicalities of shifting a full band from gig to gig, The Dø quickly found themselves enamoured by the necessary changes in performance.

“The last tour had so many different stages, and we started as a full six-piece band with only acoustic instruments, which was impossible to travel with,” says Merilahti. “So we had to strip it down to a four-piece, and find certain practical solutions because we weren’t able to play everything live anymore. That’s when we started to use drum machines and sequencers onstage, and it was kind of a discovery for us; we really enjoyed it. It was somehow always more logical for the sound that we had in the studio, it felt really natural. So I think it started from there. We were also really obsessed with hip hop – we listened to more electronic sounds and that kind of thing. So it started that way, and we kept it that way. It became our ultimate direction for the album.”

Though this direction may not be one that followers from their early days might be expecting, it’s difficult to imagine they’re going to jeopardise their fan base; Shake Shook Shaken is a strong album with a lot of variety. Merilahti is hard-pressed to say what avenue she expects her writing and music to take next. The process seems happenstantial, with songs conjured from the unexpected rather than through deliberate choices. “I think the writing is not as intuitive, so it takes a long time. It comes from the brain more than the music, so there’s this censorship that’s always present. It doesn’t come out as easily, but still I love it. I should write every day, but I don’t. I don’t know. For me, it’s always surreal in a way, because it goes through my imagination, it’s not just relating things directly. Writing is something I don’t find … permanent, somehow. Music is, though. It’s like your blood flow; it’s always ready to come out somehow.”

Catch them atSo Frenchy So Chic In The Park 2015 alongside Émilie Simon, La Femme, François & The Atlas Mountains atSt John’s College, University of Sydney onSaturday January 17, tickets online.Shake Shook Shaken out Friday October 10 through Cartell.

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