Flight Facilities, comprised of Aussie artists Jimmy 2 Sox and U-Go-B, are taking off this year. With just the right amount of retro flair, they still maintain a very modern electro-pop sensibility. Their remixes have been making waves all over the Internet and now, their debut single, “Crave You,” is being released March 26 to massive buzz. Street chatted with the illustrious Flight Facilities for their first-ever print interview — as well as vocalist Giselle Rosselli — to see what they’re all about.
Street: You have a pretty limited Internet presence as individuals — little is known about you despite your many remixes. Can you give readers the basics about each of your members? Flight Facilities: From the start we were pretty adamant about being secretive with our identities. It just meant that whatever we put out was going to be judged for the music and not who was behind it. It’s easy to dislike a musician's product by associating it with their past work or the people as characters. The cat’s out of the bag now really. There are two of us that produce the music (Jimmy and Hugo) and we’ve recently collaborated with a vocalist (Giselle Roselli) for our first single.
Street: What’s the origin and significance of the name Flight Facilities? Hugo: My grandfather owned a company on the Southern coast of New South Wales of the same name and logo. This was all back in the 70s. I found an old t-shirt from the company with the picture and the name and my cousin Gus (who runs one half of our label — Bang Gang 12 Inches) thought it would be a great idea to use the concept. So the name was decided before we even got together. It just so happened that [Jimmy and I] worked well together and I lightly guided [him] towards the thought of this Flight Facilities project. He agreed at gunpoint.
Street: How would you describe your style? FF: We honestly have no idea how to describe our sound. We’ve recently christened it ‘Broken Hill House.’ We’ve just found a nice middle ground between a few genres. We don’t know how we make it or how we come to it but we seem to fall into it every time. In terms of modern music, we’re inspired by musicians like Aeroplane, Daft Punk, Tiga, Tensnake, Holy Ghost!, etc. It’s all very musical and great to dance, listen or relax to.
Street: What is your production process like, from conception of the idea to completion of the track? FF: Hilarious, disorganised and looooong. Our biggest problem can be perfection or even procrastination. We just don’t know what to expect by the end of that sort of journey because you’re so sick of listening to the song over and over. We usually come around to it again … eventually.
Street: In regards to “Crave You,” what was your vision for the track — which elements came to you first? What role did you play in the crafting of the vocals? Did Giselle write the lyrics, and how did the beautiful melody come about? FF: Giselle was completely responsible for the vocal. She did such a great job and really finished off what turned out to be a great collaboration. We know she has a back story on the lyrics but might be a bit lip locked on it. Perhaps we’ll leave the rest of this answer to her. Giselle Roselli: I had had this repeating lyric stuck in my head for a few weeks before I met the Flight Facilities guys by chance at a bar in Sydney. Inspired by a boy I had met while studying, I had thought up the main line of the song, “Why can’t you want me like the other boys do, they stare at me while I stare at you,” and had scribbled it down. It so followed that when the guys sent me one of their new loops they had been working on, the lyric happened to fit perfectly to the mood of the track and the melody just followed suit.
Street: What void/niche do you think you’re filling in the music world? FF: We hope a more melodic one. There are so many of the same artists on radio every day. It might just be on the commercial stations we have here but it always appears to be the same people on rotation. It’s a bit sad to see amazing musicians [not getting] the attention they deserve. So often, there’s so much more value in the independent stations. One of the reasons we were so excited when "Crave You" received such great attention was that we knew it would be great for Giselle as a soloist. She makes beautiful music on her own and we couldn’t believe she’d been sneaking around Sydney so quietly. We can only hope that this is a great start for both of us. Who knows? By the time we have an album, we may have grey hair and "Crave You" might be a golden oldie.
