Alter Boy, the indie electro pop band from Perth, have defied the odds. Risking flash fame as a queer/trans/hard-of-hearing novelty act early in their career, they’ve now found their way into the hearts of the entire world. Labels other than ‘phenomenon’ are now redundant.
Underlying Alter Boy is the idea of paradox. It’s the reason why frontwoman, Molly Priest, wants to incorporate silence into the band’s music.
“Different frequencies of sound induce different states in people,” Priest said. “There’s a lot of frequencies we can’t hear, but that doesn’t mean the silence doesn’t affect your reality. That’s not about being deliberately difficult or wanting to focus on one thing above any others, it’s just about the band’s drive to push the limits of what music can be.”
Not that it’s at all difficult to fall for Alter Boy. On the surface of it they create a highly accessible brand of electro pop, the sort you can dance to, snuggle up in bed with and introduce to your significant others. They’re like a black hole, everything and nothing all at the same time.
You can take from Alter Boy’s music the whole of existence, or you can choose to let their pulses of sound/non-sound lap at your being while you create your own worlds. It’s all up to you, but what you have no choice about is whether you’ll be beguiled by this outfit from the shores of the Indian Ocean. You will and, no matter where you experience Alter Boy for the first time, afterwards you will forever feel their inexorable pull.