What are your names?
Raphaël and Tristan Stuart.
What is the band’s name?
DJAKARTA.
How did you come up with the band’s name?
We were looking for a city as our band name and thought “Djakarta” sounded great!
What is your genre of music?
Indie-pop folk.
Give us a little bio about you as a band.
Djakarta is the music project of singer-songwriters Raphaël and Tristan Stuart. The multi-instrumentalist brothers craft intimate pop songs, seamlessly blending acoustic and electronic textures inside their studio in Paris. Equally inspired by wide-open spaces and cityscapes, the duo is set to release Overseas in March 2022. With dreamy musings on lives spent between two continents (they are French-born Australians) set against melancholy, sun-drenched folk-pop arrangements, be ready to embark on a physical and spiritual journey.
What made you go into music?
Our father is an artist (painter and sculptor) who introduced us to music (piano and guitar) when we were kids.
Who are your influences?
Air, Alt-J, Balthazar, Fleet Foxes, Junip, Tame Impala …
Are you signed?
No, we have our own record and publishing company called LyreBirds Records.
You released you brand new single ‘Looking For Attention’, tell us more about the single.
It’s a song featuring Hawaiian singer Keilimei, released on our label LyreBirds Records.
What is the meaning behind the single?
Our track is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to singlehood and the false sense of freedom and fear of commitment that come with endless one-night-stands.
What was the writing and recording process like?
We did an acoustic version of the song in our studio and then later produced the final version with producer Stan Neff in his studio in Paris.
Describe the track in two words.
Happy and funny.
Who did you work with on the single?
We worked with Keilimei and Stan Neff.
We also see a Music Video for the single what was the creative process like for it and inspiration behind it?
The accompanying video (written by us, directed by KickSama and Rusalka) builds on the song’s theme by playfully blending the worlds of dating apps and 80s-90s arcade game culture.
A girl and a guy are glued to their phones in the middle of a club as they play Swyper, a Tinder-inspired video game where two player-characters go toe-to-toe in a race to collect as many lovers as possible by tossing them in a shopping cart and converting them into coins, Super Mario-style. The duo zoom past various landscapes and checkpoints, avoiding obstacles (giant weddings rings, babies) and picking up bonus items (guitars, cowboys) while attacking the other player à la Mario Kart using dangerous objects like wedding dresses or contracts… in other words, anything that could slow down their opponent’s frantic consumption and accumulation of romantic partners and cause them to lose their coins. The rules are simple: whoever gets the most coins wins! But their shopping carts eventually get so full that they are forced to cash in as they wind up swimming in literal pools of coins. It looks as though the race will never come to an end but just like that, both of our characters bump into their exes and it’s ‘game over’. A girl and a guy look up from their phones and their eyes lock for the first time: could settling down not be as bad as they imagined it to be?
Will we see an EP or Album and if so can you give us a teaser of what to expect?
Our new EP Overseas will be released in March 2022 with a video for the song Alive.
Will we see any live shows coming up with the EP release coming soon and if so where will you be heading?
Yes, we will play for the release party of the EP in Paris on March 24 in a venue called Le Sacré and other gigs to come in France for 2022. We would also love to play in Australia when the situation with COVID will be better!
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
Living, surfing and playing music in Australia!
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
If you ain’t first, you’re last! (Ricky Bobby).
Always look on the bright side of life (Monty Python).
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
The lyrics, the chords, to turn off the tuner pedal, the standby button on the guitar amp, and to check our pants flies are closed.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Website
