Husband-wife duo, Ryan and Chelsea Collings, together with Tom Wright, who plays ukulele, drums, and mandolin, as well as providing backing vocals, make up The Campervan Dancers, from Sydney, Australia.
The band has released their first single, ‘Starlight (Pickin’ Pears)’. It’s the first single from the band’s five-track eponymous EP, set for release later next year.
The Campervan Dancers was set up as Ryan and Chelsea fell in love. The pair soon got engaged, married, and have played their indie folk songs ever since. Their influences are myriad, from Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, and Frank Oceean, to Local Natives, and Fleetwood Mac. They’ve also found inspiration from listening to a substantial amount of R’n’B and rap.
The band were approached by recording engineer Ben Moore, known for his work with Iggy Pop, and invited to record in a private space in the beautiful Kangaroo Valley, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, for a period of ten days.
The band says of their music,
“We’re not trying to make a big name for ourselves, that’s not our goal – we’re gonna keep making music, and trying to bring joy anyway we can to whoever is in our sphere of influence.”
The track ‘Starlight (Pickin’ Pears)’, was written in 2012 and features samples from astronauts, YouTube cats, and the sound of an actual star, among many others. Additionally, backing vocals recorded at a church in Balmain, Sydney, as well as at a church steeple in London, were added in order to give the track a particular sound.
You can find out more about The Campervan Dancers online on their Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Soundcloud pages, as well as their official website.
