A twisted sense of magic seeps through the music of Sydney electronic trio Gift Exchange. It’s like a brooding storm cloud swirling with sounds ranging from punk to operatic. Comprised of vocalist Madison Scott, guitarist Jaime Krausmann and producer Eduardo Bianchino, the group is a self proclaimed ‘witch-house/drag/goth’ outfit. They’re also our Independent Artist(s) of the Week, so they joined Sim Cheuanghane on The Bridge to talk through their debut EP Before the Dust Settles.

Dark, textural walls of sound with soaring vocals define the sound of Gift Exchange. In fewer words, their music sounds like the work of an evil Caroline Polacheck.

“It’s like an amalgamation of so many different forms of art, even cinema, poetry.” 

Additionally, there’s a confluence of each member’s creative projects that fuses in Gift Exchange’s sound.

“So when we are together we write songs and there’s a mass influence of different things coming from different places and as much as we, you know, hackle about it or try and push things that we want or push things that other people want we always need to put these songs together that make space and allow space for the other people to exist, which ends up creating a much… a new dynamic that we couldn’t perceive or we wouldn’t readily perceive.”

What began as a joke about opera wound up shaping the way Madison’s vocals were used across the EP. The told Sim about the origin of their operatic sound. 

Madison: “When I was a kid I would stand in front of my parents like in the living room just being like, ‘Watch me sing opera, watch me sing opera.’ But yeah, I guess I did the same with you.”

“Yeah, the first time I heard Maddie do that I was like, ‘What? How did you do that?’ And then I was like, ‘That’s like insane. We have to use that all the time. That’s like amazing.’”

Want to hear those vocals fro yourself? Listen to Gift Exchange’s full interview with Sim up top, or stream  Before the Dust Settles here: