An Interview With The Tel Aviv Based Foursome, LESS ACROBATS!

Photo Credit- Michael Topyol

Tel Aviv based foursome, Less Acrobats was known previously as a guitar based band, but their current sonic shift was catalyzed over the last year, and triggered by some personal hardship.

Their new sound stems from newfound hip-hop influences, which offers a blend of shoegaze and R&B influenced to their indie pop sound. A luxurious single anchored by a pulsating beat and kaleidoscopic hooks, “Dirty Lover” is from the band’s forthcoming debut EP, Stanza, out this month via BLDG 5 Records.

BLDG 5 is an innovative music label from Tel Aviv, Israel. Their artist roster and own compilation albums have been praised by Pitchfork, Stereogum, FACT, Clash, The FADER, NPR, SPIN, i-D and more.

Learn more about Less Acrobats in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! Now that 2016 is over, what are some words you would use to describe the year? What have been some of the highlights for you all the band’s music? What are you most excited about for 2017? Did any of you make any New Year’s Resolutions?

In 2016 they found the vaccine for shame, and now shamelessness is the new king. You don’t have to be nice anymore. That’s exciting! Maybe it’s because shame and guilt have been main themes for about 2000 years now. They’ve been abused for a while, so people wanted to free themselves. I guess it makes sense, but shame was around for a good reason. You can’t just be a huge asshole and then get elected POTUS. What gives? So some German philosophers would definitely be proud of this year, but it wasn’t good for everyone. Hopefully 2017 will have a finer balance of shame and lack thereof.

Growing up, did you all always want to be musicians? Can you recall some of your first musical memories?

None of us wanted to be musicians growing up, and as grown-ups we still really don’t. It’s the worst profession. Primal musical memories comes with headphones, listening to a band nobody knows while squinting your eyes towards someone you don’t like.

How did Less Acrobats first come together? How did you go about picking your name? Was it hard to find something that described you all?

It’s just alienated kids in high school, struggling to find someone who hates the same things they hate. We were aliens making a home for ourselves on earth, and looking for things to do in this mind-numbing state of teenagerism. Music was like that. You can imagine we weren’t very athletic kids. In that sense, the name fits us well.

In the last year, your sound has undergone a major change in sound. Can you talk about that shift and why did it happen now?

It came together quite naturally, and we’ve been lucky enough to have faith in each other to be able to develop and keep being curious. These shifts are really essential. Without them we would bore ourselves to death and happily vanish.

Next month, you will release your debut EP, “Stanza.” What was it like recording this collection and what was the inspiration for these songs?

We were friends spending time in a room, and during that time we made things. It appears to us that perception is more important than reality nowadays, but we wanted to find simple truths in our everyday lives. It’s our pure form of protest (even though we don’t have the word revolution in any of our songs even once, but here it is).

What is it like to be represented by BLDG 5 Records, a Tel Aviv-based music label? How long has this company been around? What other artists do they work with now?

BLDG5 was built by cool and free-spirited music curators, with an artistic vision. It is a sub label of Anova. It’s been around for a few years now, and it was easy for us to feel a part of it. Our friends in Garden City Movement and Lola Marsh are on board with us there.

Who are some of your favorite artists and what bands continue to inspire you and your music? Who would you all still love to work with in the future?

We’re a mix of all sorts of influences so we feel a little better to name drop genres. Excuse us please. It goes from Classical music, to Electronic, Motown, R&B, Psychedelia of all sorts, Hip-Hop, Shoegaze and Pop. Apart of all that genera talk, A Tribe Called Quest still echoes.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

John Barth once talked about building a showboat that drifts along the river, while on it there is a play going on continuously. The audience sits along the bank and only catches flashes of the plot. Most of the time, they don’t even know what the play is about. To fill in the gaps, they ask friends or use their imagination. It’s a really good explanation of why we need to let go of some kind of common reality. Anyone looking for that will just end up with fragments of the story. Each of us comes from a different world of influences, musical or other, and with an independent perception of what spin things around. When we’re doing good, we can really understand it. But it’s much easier to forget.

When you aren’t performing, working in the studio, what do you like to do for fun? How do you unwind from it all?

We really like food.