Unknown Mortal Orchestra's solitary solace

A PRIVATE Twitter account is "the oxymoron of 2012", according to Ruban Nielson, the musical linchpin behind band Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

unknown mortal orchestra

A PRIVATE Twitter account is "the oxymoron of 2012", according to Ruban Nielson, the musical linchpin behind Portland-via-Dunedin garage revivalist band Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

He made his point via @UMO.

"I'm addicted to Twitter, I spend a lot of time on my phone while we're on the road. My bandmates and I don't wanna go through the boom and bust of hanging out every day and getting sick of each other," Nielson says.

Oxymoron or not, when one is at the controls, Twitter is a private universe. And Nielson is a fairly solitary guy.

Originally from New Zealand, he broke up his previous band The Mint Chicks and moved to Portland, Oregon, a few years back for fresh adventures. Nielson toiled around with "cartoon-y" rock'n'roll demos and within hours of putting them online the blogosphere's wick was lit.

Pitchfork wanted to know more about Ffunny Ffrends, as did the rest of the world.

UMO's self-titled debut came out in 2011 and received glowing reviews, including four stars in Hit. Nielson and his bandmates slugged it out on the road for 18 months, playing Meredith and Falls Festival to lavish acclaim.

"We made a decision to say 'yes' to everything that came up. That was quite overwhelming after a year and a half of no sleep. That's what this record's about," he says of II.

II is more relaxed instrumentally but darker lyrically. The opening salvo on the record dives right into macabre subject matter: "Isolation can put a gun in your hand," he sings on From The Sun. Nielson laughs at the mention of suicide. "In the Mint Chicks that was always something I was doing, hiding full-frontal lyrics in bubble-gum music. That's from being a fan of The Misfits.

"I'm a flippant person. Those lyrics sounded pithy. They can be about suicide or just dangerous behaviour and isolation. The gun could be turned on yourself or someone else," he says.

It's quite a coincidence that Tame Impala's Lonerism celebrates being an island entire of itself, a theme Nielson explores throughout their second LP. "I was amazed at that. I hadn't heard anything that Kevin (Parker) had been working on. It's a worry. There's enough in common with the bands already."

Nielson spent some time hanging out by his lonesome in a mind-altered state at Meredith Festival last year. "I was backstage and I thought I'd sit down and spend the entire trip trying to think of a name for the next record. I came up with No Need For A Leader," he says. "I felt it explained a lot about my personal and political beliefs."

He ended up baulking at the title but wrote a song around that phrase. You can imagine Mitt Romney reciting it to his victory officers then swimming in his moneybin. "Yeah you could. It's a really fun riff to play," he says.

No Need For A Leader will be a festival highlight when UMO are here for Pyramid Rock. If you want to look the part for UMO, order the Bundle package from their website that includes a temporary eye tattoo for your neck, just like Nielson's.

"Having an eye tattoo on your neck is a douche deterrent," he chuckles.

HEAR II (Jagjaguwar/Inertia) out Jan 10.

Pyramid Rock, Dec 30, $279/$314, thepyramidrockfestival.com.