Sydney's experimental pop trio, PVT (formally Pivot) have returned, changed their name and their style to bring forth a gutsier synth and vocal driven new album. 2ser subscribers can win a copy on Breakfast, Overdrive and Static.

Sydney trio, PVT (formerly known as Pivot), will return 16th July with their highly anticipated new album, ‘Church With No Magic’. To celebrate, the band will also be touring Australia in August!

When Warp Records (Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Grizzly Bear) founder Steve Beckett signed an unknown band from Sydney in early 2008, based on the strength of their seething, instrumental album, ‘O Soundtrack My Heart’, you could forgive him for being a little taken aback when only 18 months later they returned to his office with the follow up. ‘Church With No Magic’ represents a new vocal-lead direction for the band, and is arguably one of the most ambitious experimental rock records ever to come out their native Australia.

 ‘Church With No Magic’ builds upon the anthemic synth-driven instrumental movements for which PVT is renowned, along with the power of their visceral live shows. The sound has been brilliantly tempered and expanded by the trio into brooding, melancholic experimental pop - an amalgam of rock synthesis, propulsive rhythms and huge melodic strength.

“We didn’t know what it would become,’’ says Dave Miller. ‘’We just wanted to make something that developed organically and let us explore the influence of all of the live shows we’d been playing.”

The most notable development on ‘Church With No Magic’ would have to be the vocals of multi-instrumentalist Richard Pike. While the band has often used vocals in the past, particularly live, this album sees them taking on a more central role within the songs. “Rich has always sung, ever since we were kids, but it’s just not something that ever happened in PVT in such a direct way until now,’’ says brother Laurence. “It wasn’t a conscious choice to add vocals on this record. It just happened in the initial sessions for the album. It felt totally natural so we just rolled with it.”

The process was a new one for PVT. On their previous album, Miller and multi-instrumentalist brothers Richard and Laurence Pike had worked remotely across borders, living in Sydney and London during recording. ‘Church With No Magic’ was different. For a start, they found themselves in the same countries at the same times. It also took them from Sydney to a basement studio in London with one of Europe’s largest collections of vintage synthesizers – including the Yamaha CS80 famously used for the ‘Blade Runner’ soundtrack - to a grandmother’s music room in a 120 year old house in the countryside near Paris, juggling live commitments along the way.

The release of ‘Church With No Magic’ coincides with a change to the band’s name, from Pivot to PVT. The change was a necessary one, the result of an unexpected legal claim from a band in the United States that used the same name. “It was frustrating and kind of ridiculous,’’ says Richard. “But it became quickly obvious that it was a legal battle in the US we may not even win, and one we just couldn’t afford to lose. So in the end, we weren’t phased by it.”

With ‘Church With No Magic’, PVT has undergone a literal and sonic transformation. It’s a truly modern-sounding album that takes their music in directions both challenging and more accessible. It’s music that captures the contemporary struggle for sincerity, a saturation of communication and an excess of access in our world. Yet, despite its often sinister and mechanical facade, there still emerges a very human quality at the heart of it.