Photo by Thomas Ross

Meet Mildlife – the cosmic funk house band from Melbourne who are playing a party on the edge of the universe.

With a desire to push the musical boundaries of jazz, psych and disco into an irresistible groove, the sounds that Mildlife create are kaleidoscopic. For old friends James Donald, Adam Halliwell, Kevin McDowell and Tom Shanahan, songwriting is a constant process of teasing, tugging, expanding and refining. Sometimes it starts with an idea, and other times it’s bolstered by wild improvisation.

It’s these small seeds of spontaneity that have grown into their long awaited debut album, Phase. Some of Phase‘s sounds were planted as far back as the beginning of the band several years ago, forgotten and rediscovered in the album’s making. Mildlife are adamant though, that they are not a studio band, and instead, they are driven by the excitement of a live show.

This excitement led the four piece to take time off touring and consider how they could make more complex and tangible improv, while still being able to produce as much of their music possible, live. For bass player Tom Shanahan, “It feels more authentic. The energy can be in the song rather than sitting on top of it.”

Onstage, the music of Phase moves into another dimension. Still with enough room for random outbursts of creativity, a Mildlife set emphasises rhythm that works it way into the bones. And if the reputation of their beguiling live sets alongside Krakatau and Harvey Sutherland are anything to go by, you’re in for an epic cosmic journey.

Get into ‘Zwango Zop’ below.

WHO: Mildlife ‘Phase’ National Tour
WHERE: Freda’s, Chippendale
WHEN: 8pm, Thursday May 11
HOW MUCH: Free! More details here

Phase by Mildlife is available now on Bandcamp, Spotify and Soundcloud
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