Along with the project, Arrange has released the video for one of the songs off the new record, New Memory EP. It chronicles Malcom and his partner’s trip from South Florida to their new home in Portland. The heartfelt video matches the beautiful and warm texture of the song. And plus, their dog is adorable.

“When We Saw” – arrange from Malcom Lacey on Vimeo.

Download audio file (e07lmxoobzya0835gapg.mp3)

M.I.A.- Bad Girls

Back in April, Australia’s Oscar + Martin released their heartfelt and warm record For You. This is not any ordinary love album folks. It’s filled with complex metaphors that scream unbridled passion in its purest of forms. Furthermore, the duo experiments with toy instruments, which does wonders for their tunes as it mirrors the childlike whimsy and fickle nature of love. It’s a refreshing take on our most interesting and sometimes untenable emotion.

Hit the jump for LFTF’s exclusive interview with Oscar + Martin:

Download audio file (3tv8se66ckxliegdo9ug.mp3)
 Oscar + Martin- My Blood

You guys seem to have a healthy fetish with toy instruments. Do you find that this forces you to attack your composition differently than a more traditional approach to song writing?

Martin: The toy instrument thing comes more out of poverty rather than fetishism. Oscar and I didn’t really luck out on the rich parents thing, and so we never had anyone to buy us some fuck-off expensive synths. As soon as we get ourselves some rich parents happenin’, Oscar + Martin will be so Vangelis.

…But yeah, the limitations of using crappy kids keyboards does influence the way our music develops. We have to be inventive to get the sounds interesting.

“My Blood” is just an amazing tune full of pure emotion. What’s the story behind it? Was it difficult to morph the message/emotion into song?

Oscar: Thank you! It came pretty easy actually. It’s the type of song that you can write while walking or riding, or just waiting at a train station or something, because it’s mainly vocal based. To me it has a kind of doo wop aesthetic. I think it’s pretty unrestrained in its emotion and message; I didn’t hold back giving it all away at the time love-wise. Interestingly though, once it was recorded I always felt quite sorry for myself. I think I sound pretty pathetic in a way. It took a while to not be embarrassed while showing it to people.

Download audio file (d5td27rdd54xq45mkeh0.mp3)
 Oscar + Martin- Lion’s Heart

How do you know when you’ve finished a song?

Martin: Oscar and I are pretty savage perfectionists. I tend to write my verses 4 or 5 times before I’m happy with them. I know Oscar has about 5 or 6 entirely different arrangemants of the one song he is working on at the moment. So I guess the track is finished when you can’t bare to work on it anymore, or when when you run out of time to keep picking at one line or other.

Oscar: For sure. And it’s sort of when you can bear to listen to the song with out criticizing it, just being able to enjoy it.

Download audio file (tu4thbvq2xzm1b918x2a.mp3)
 Oscar + Martin- All I Think About

When and where did you guys write For You?

Martin: Most of For You was written as catharsis when Oscar’s girl dropped him…. But the chorus hook in “What I Know” was written when I was traveling with my girl in europe a couple years ago. I had just a mini tape player and one or two loops I was working on. I just ended up singing this line again and again. The rest of the song wasn’t written until I brought it to Oscar. In my verse, I’m trying to sympathise with the way Oscar was feeling at the time and reflecting on my own breakup experiences.

What’s in the future for O+M?

We are in the middle of a tour at the moment, playing Meretdith this weekend and we’ll finish up at Falls. We’re also laying with Matronomy in January. I think after all that we might take a little break to work on some new stuff… Oscar is working on a couple of projects at the moment: an album with Brothers Hand Mirror and some solo stuff. I’m working on an album with my other project the Harpoons. So we keep pretty busy.

Oscar + Martin – “Recognise” (Dir: Josh Aylett and Mahmood Fazal) from two bright lakes on Vimeo.

Purchase Oscar + Martin‘s For You right here.

I love Sebastien Tellier. Even though I didn’t understand half of his 2008 album Sexuality, which featured artwork of Sebastien riding horseback atop a naked woman’s body, because most of it’s lyrics were in French, it was still one of my favorite albums of that year. This was thanks in part to the productions of  Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, but mostly due to Tellier’s panache. It was a fun album that still resonates with me to this day.

Four year’s later and Tellier is finally back with a follow-up LP. My God Is Blue is due out April 16th on Parisian label Record Makers. Ahead of it’s release, Tellier has released a video for the album’s lead track “Pepito Bleu.” Watch the strange, cultish video below. It even includes subtitles for those of us that don’t speak French.