Melbourne duo GL join us for episode #21 of the Turning Heads podcast.
Episode 21 of Turning Heads features Melbourne musicians Ella Thompson and Graeme Pogson of the cosmic electro funk-pop project GL. GL’s second album, You Read My Mind, came out in September 2020 via the band’s own label, Pool Records.
Thompson and Pogson’s musical collaboration dates back over a decade. They both grew up in the Warrandyte/Eltham area and started working together when Thompson was still in high school. They later joined Melbourne funk icons The Bamboos – Pogson on drums and Thompson as co-lead vocalist – appearing on a few of the group’s most successful albums before splitting off to form GL in 2014.
Pogson is also a member of Kylie Aulidst’s band and played a major role in the creation of her new album, This is What Happiness Looks Like. Thompson has co-fronted Dorsal Fins and in 2015 released her debut solo album, Janus, following up with the 2018 EP, Hysteria.
GL released their debut LP, Touch, in 2016, which led to a sold out national tour and slots at Meredith, Splendour In The Grass and Laneway Festival. This rapid rise meant that GL started to become a bit of a stressful venture, which was the exact the opposite of what they’d hoped for when launching the project. But having taken time to free themselves of other people’s expectations, GL return in glistening, pop-tastic form on You Read My Mind. It’s an upbeat, extroverted release with squelchy synths, deep funk and disco grooves and a heckload of pop melody.
In the podcast, Ella and Graeme talk about their decision to release the album through their own label and how much they’re relishing the increased autonomy. They also discuss the sorts of reactions they hope to elicit with their songs and how working on GL productions enables them to escape from their own bad moods and frustrations about the state of the world.
Check out the podcast episode below:
I will be back with a new episode of Turning Heads next week. You can find the podcast on Spotify, Podbean and through Apple.
Never miss a story. Sign up to Beat’s newsletter and you’ll be served fresh music, arts, food and culture stories five times a week.
