Credit Katia Temkin
Glades’ second album Planetarium marks a confident new chapter for the Sydney-raised trio. The personal but danceable record bursts with charisma and vulnerability while retaining the same endearing electro-pop traits that defined their acclaimed debut To Love You.
It’s the sound of a band who have tapped into newfound confidence, radiating with crystalline vocals, bounding beats, and magnetic hooks. Lyrically, it’s a declaration of self-confidence, embracing both self-love and transparency in sharing emotion.
“We came into this album knowing that we had to open up and be ourselves. The songs had to be our own personal stories,” says Karina Savage, speaking of an attitude change that extended to the sonic feel of the album. “It was a very conscious but also very natural maturation of our sound,” adds multi-instrumentalist Joey Wenceslao.
“There’s a lot more confidence now in comparison to our first album.” All three members of Glades – vocalist Savage and multi-instrumentalists/producers Wenceslao and Cam Robertson – have spent the formative years of their adolescence releasing music. They met in high school and officially formed the band back in 2015.
Their debut track “Falling Away” caught the attention of the internet in the same year while a cover of Troye Sivan’s “Fools” drew accolades from Sivan himself. 2018’s To Love You took the band to the next level, propelled by a string of successful singles.
“Not About You” and “Eyes Wide Shut” nabbed the #1 most played slot on Australia’s influential triple j radio,, while global breakthrough “Do Right” eclipses the 100 million streams mark on Spotify. Meanwhile, the album took them on sold-out tours both in Australia and internationally while also supporting the likes of Rita Ora, LANY and Clean Bandit. Their total stream count has since sailed well past the 200 million mark.
Tell us about Planetarium and how it came about
Planetarium came about pretty organically. We were writing songs with the intention of putting them together on an album, but we didn’t know what we wanted the album to be called or what it’d be about. The title track, ‘Planetarium,’ was actually the very first song that we wrote on the album, so it was kind of poetic that it became the title track. The rest of the album was written in LA, between ourselves & some friends, on and off within the space of around 8 months, but the majority of the songs were written within the space of less than a month. The last few parts of the album were vocals and guitars, which we recorded back in Sydney.
Tell us about the evolution of Glades over the course of the past 6 years.
Karina, Cam & I met in high school. He and I were in the same grade. After school, Cam and I were writing together and producing friends of friends. Eventually we wanted to make music that was truly our own, and we knew Karina was a great singer, so we asked her, and the rest is history.
We started writing together within the week, and basically released songs as we made them. Blogs were writing about our songs, online streaming services were putting us on playlists, and local radio stations were playing our music. We picked up a few tours along the way, supporting acts like Clean Bandit, Anne Marie, FRENSHIP, and LANY, as well as playing headline tours of our own around the US, Asia, and our home country, Australia. It’s been a pretty crazy ride so far and I’m grateful for every part of it!
Is there a specific aspect of your music making that you love more than others?
Being truly in our emotions and baring our souls in our lyrics is really something else. Writing is very cathartic for me; it’s almost like therapy. Being able to process memories & emotions through music is pretty cool and super helpful for letting things go or understanding things better, especially with songs like ‘Living in Blue’ off our latest album, ‘Planetarium’. We wrote that sitting on our living room floor in LA, eating pizza, having a d’n’m at 1am.
Who are your all time musical icons?
We love bands like The 1975 and artists like Lorde, Frank Ocean, and John Mayer. Lately I’ve been on a grunge & shoegaze kick, and bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine would be in my top played artists of the last few months.
What’s the lyrical theme on this new record?
Especially with this album, we made a conscious decision to be the most personal in our writing that we’ve ever been, so the lyrics on ‘Planetarium’ are very inspired by our personal lives and experiences.
What other form of arts do you consume?
I try to pay attention to as much as possible in everyday life, because inspiration can come from anywhere – the notes & voice memo apps are godsends. On the song ‘Through to You’ on our first album, ‘To Love You,’ I heard Karina watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy & the lyrics were inspired by a line that someone on the show said.
Any memorable anecdotes from touring?
On our tour supporting FRENSHIP, our gear was stolen from our tour van the day before the tour started. Luckily, travel insurance covered most of our gear (not all of it, sadly,) and we were able to get replacements within a week or so. We always do a hands in huddle right before we go on stage, and our hands-in-chant for the tour was “TRAVEL INSURANCE,” because without it, I don’t know how we would’ve been able to play the tour.
Who inspires your style and aesthetics?
Honestly, instagram is where I get a lot of style inspiration from. Overall I prefer a minimal streetwear aesthetic. People like @blvckd0pe and @diln_. I used to watch a lot of fashion Youtubers like @sangiev, @jacobjkeller, and @magnus and their styles definitely helped me find my own.
What is the achievement or moment in your career you are the most proud of and why?
Our song ‘Do Right’ going gold in Australia independently is probably what I’m most proud of. Every song we release has a special place in my heart, but having a physical external validation to know that people like what we’re making doesn’t hurt. 🙂
How do you think the music industry is changing or how would you change it?
Mental health in the music & entertainment industry (I’d go so far to say as all industries really) is widely overlooked. I think organizations – whether they be labels, management companies, or even booking agencies – need to prioritize mental health support more. The World Health Organization’s definition of health constitutes “physial, mental, and social wellbeing” – not just physical. People form the basis of companies, and if people aren’t wholly healthy, they won’t perform at their best, and if people don’t perform at their best, then a company won’t perform at its best.
Any fun plans for the future?
The future in general scares me. Haha. But as the world starts to recover and open up again, I’m looking forward to us playing shows, touring, and traveling – above a lot of things, I miss touring the most.
