Album number eight for You Am I

by Marcus on Jul 28 2008, 11:00AM

Iconic Australian rockers You Am I have been holed up in Electric Studios in Sydney working on album number eight, to be titled Dilettantes.

Sometimes I forget how great You Am I are. Sometimes I think they haven't made a great record since Hourly Daily, that Tim's losing his voice, that the band are remnants of an era passed. Then I see them live and blush with shame. For while they drift in and out of the public consciousness from time to time - for good, bad and sometimes silly reasons - they remain a towering high watermark in not just Australian music, but pop music in general. Not to mention a killer live band.

According to the most recent issue of Sydney's Time Out magazine, the band are experimenting with a more considered approach to Dilettantes, rather than the fire and brimstone charge of 2006 album Convicts. Says guitarist Davey Lane: "The soundscape is a lot wider this time. More instruments, more overlays, a less rock, more creative approach."

Frontman Tim Rogers also reflects on the shambolic creative process of the album, explaining of a fresh tune: "That last song didn't exist at 10am but was finished by noon. A bunch of chords merged with a story about Davey and I touring Itchycoo Park and visiting Iron Maiden's rehearsal space and a memory of a girlfriend who loved The Cure, who I hate.Then, as usual, the band rejected my first three versions, and I went out back and sulked as I wrote the verses. That's how it works with us - I get angry with 'em... and then I hug 'em."

We saw Rogers back in Melbourne last Friday. Perhaps tracking is finished? It's due on shelves September 12.