LESE MAJESTY // By The Grace Of Rock

If you ever thought prog-rock couldn’t sound pretty, think again. Patterns & Signals, the debut EP from Sydney duo Lese Majesty is as cutthroat as it is gorgeous.

The EP is about recognising cycles and repetition in oneself and the world around us, and Lese Majesty have given some very philosophical observations a beautiful soundtrack.

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Vocalist and guitarist Jodie Gibson has a beautifully poetic way of not only performing, but discussing the mission objective, mantra and ethos of Lese Majesty. As she explains not only about Lese Majesty’s sound and sentiment but the elemental story behind the release, Gibson steers her conversation with Hysteria into a realm of clarity and pensiveness that only goes to accentuate the colour and vibrancy of Patterns & Signals.  

Hysteria – Yours is a powerful force of musical magic, particularly in tracks like Gravity Calling and In Stone–how best would you describe your sound and from where have you drawn influences?

Jodie – We had Luke Palmer and Luke Williams from Dead Letter Circus involved in the pre-production, as well as studio tracking so there is definitely some Dead Letter Circus vibes throughout. We had a conversation about steering the record into a more prog vibe, as there doesn’t seem to be many female fronted prog bands around, so we thought this could be an interesting direction to steer the ship. We’ve been told that we could be likened to a rock version of Metric, or possibly some vibes from The Superjesus, but we draw from everywhere. Currently we’ve been going through an intense Jason Isbell phase, who’s a country artist who writes brilliant lyrics.

H – The lyrics seem to be often heartfelt and intense, particularly in No Evil–where’s that passion coming from? Is there a message you want to be heard in your music?

J – No Evil was about recognising that regular humans, like me, have done and can do pretty terrible things. It’s scary but an essential component to wisdom, I’m told, to face your shadow. We delved into documentaries on Auschwitz and books on Soviet Gulag camps, spoke about events that led to these circumstances, maybe in order to prevent ourselves from taking part if the scenario should arise again. We realised that some of these patterns seem to be reappearing, so the tension in the song is mostly about me grappling with my apathy. Perhaps this is more of an internal journey of processing thoughts rather than explicitly trying to send a message, but if this resonates with someone on a similar journey, then that’s great too.

I can’t remember where we were, but we both witnessed a shooting star and his reaction was to tell me about prophecies of Armageddon. My reaction was to make a wish.
[ Jodie Gibson ]

H – What’s great about your EP is that each song has its own character, its own personality—Detector was certainly a shockingly different vibe–was this an active decision in the songwriting process or …?

J  – It wasn’t a conscious decision to achieve such an eclectic mix of tracks. We’re still testing the waters to see what we can throw at people, so we wrote about 20 songs of a variety of different styles and themes, and although we wanted to mould the EP into prog territory, there were a few standard rock numbers that slipped through. The chorus for Lie Detector had been sitting on the shelf for years, haunting us like a jingle. Theme-wise it felt like a fit for Patterns & Signals as it’s essentially about recognition of patterns of dishonesty, then disengaging from participation.

H – Signs breaks open the EP with a little prog, a little gnarly rock, and all those characters begin to take shape as you’ve opened with your boldest, most powerful track–was Signs always the track you wanted to open the EP? What’s the story behind this one?

J – Joel had been consuming a strange brew of old weird texts and reading about ancient advanced civilisations, potentially wiped out by comets. I can’t remember where we were, but we both witnessed a shooting star and his reaction was to tell me about prophecies of Armageddon. My reaction was to make a wish. It was funny at the time, but it showed that when we witness an event, we try to make sense of it by placing our own pattern of meaning over the experience. Ultimately it says more about us than what’s actually occurring. This phenomenon can be applied in every circumstance, and can be a major source of conflict both internally for the individual and in a wider global context. This seemed to set the stage for the next few tracks, and after we realised we could do a cheesy acrostic poem with the first letter of each track and the name of the EP, it was set in stone!

H – You have your EP launch in Newtown very soon–how would you best describe the energy you guys bring to the stage? Is this a party, a celebration?

J – It sure is. For us it’s such an important part of completing the cycle of each recording to play it live. We’re lucky to play with some great friends and the rehearsals have been great fun, so hopefully this translates to the stage too. This is the first time I will be playing guitar for the entire set, which I’m looking forward to, but it will definitely be pushing me outside of my comfort zone.

Catch Lese Majesty at their launch show on Friday 23 November at The Town Hall, Newtown, free entry.

Order Lese Majesty’s EP Patterns & Signals here.