One of the most anticipated releases of the year has arrived. Sofi Tukker’s sophomore album is here. Three years in the making, Wet Tennis follows their Grammy Dominated Dance Album Tree House. Wet Tennis takes us further into the genre bending, electric world of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern, the masters of music that makes us move. The duo will be coming to Australia to play Splendour In The Grass in July as well as sideshows in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. As we count down to being in the presence of one of their famous lives shows, we spoke to the duo about the new record:

This album has such a great energy! Tell us about the process - where did you make this project? What was your intention behind this album?

"We made most of this album while we were in the pandemic. A lot of it is us reflecting on what we were going through, and dreaming/manifesting the future. Our intention was to make an album that would brighten people's mood and make people feel optimistic."

Who were you inspired by while you were creating it? 

"We were most inspired by the freak fam, the community that built around our livestream DJ sets that we did every day during quarantine. It is this incredible group of people who, against all odds, chose to be positive. A lot of people were alone, isolated, and experiencing a lot of loss--but at 1pm each day, they decided to dance, dress up, and be vibrant and optimistic together in community. It was such an infectious energy and we wanted the album to be infused with it."

Who did you work with on the album? Producers engineers etc.

"On some of the tracks, it's just us two. On some of them, we worked with our collaborator and friend Bynon, on some with our long time collaborator and friend Jon Hume... on Wet Tennis, we got an incredible collection of latin musicians in the studio in Miami to play trumpet, organ, and percussion. We've got our homie the percussionist Roland on a couple tracks. Mixed by Miles Walker and mastered by Joe Lambert."

What did you learn whilst making Wet Tennis?

"We learned so much about making music... every time we make music, our process is different. With this particular album, we felt like we made it together with the freak fam. We would go into the studio and write something and then play it in the livestream to test it out. Then we'd walk literally 10 feet back into the studio and fine tune it. We kept doing that process and the freak fam saw so many variations of the same song. It was fun to share the process and not just the finished product."

The album name is an acronym. What is the story behind 'When Everyone Tries to Evolve, Nothing Negative Is Safe'? When did you come up with it and why was it right for the album title? And why then the acronym Wet Tennis? So many questions!

"We wanted this album to have multiple layers: the fun light playful layer and the deeper meaning. The acronym is the deeper meaning and it really encapsulates the values of the freak fam and why we were so inspired by them throughout quarantine. It is all of us collectively deciding to make the most of a shitty situation. Especially when done together in community, even though negative shit is bound to happen, it's not going to stick around if we are dedicated to evolving together and finding meaning and joy amidst challenge. The Wet Tennis part of it is twofold: Tennis because everything we do is a back and forth, and it's about treating life as a game. We both come from athletic backgrounds and we love tennis fashion, although traditionally it's all about the all-white country club look and we want to flip it on its head and make it colourful and inclusive. The Wet part is about excitement, enthusiasm, sweat, flow, juice, and of course... the pussy."

If you were to describe the world of Sofi Tukker to new listeners, how would you describe it?

"It's colourful, optimistic, raw, playful, annnnnd ever evolving..."

How have you evolved musically and perhaps personally since Treehouse? 

"We have written so many more songs and so in a way we feel we are better at making music, better at listening for things and fine tuning things. But also our taste has changed... as we get inspired by something, it inevitably makes its way into our sound. We were so inspired by the Turkish violins that Mahmut Orhan always has in his music so we knew we had to incorporate that into the album with "Forgive Me", as an example... Tuck has become a lot more confident and comfortable singing so there's a lot more of that. And we've had to overcome a lot more hardships since Treehouse! And written about it in the process."

Since you are the masters, what do you believe are the key ingredients to an epic electronic dance anthem?

"Haha thank you, we definitely don't consider ourselves masters yet but we are constantly searching for those key ingredients... it really just has to do with being obsessed and in love with every single sound we add to a track. Other than that, anything goes."

You’re currently touring - what did you miss most about live shows? 

"That raw energy and adrenaline. The eye contact. The sweat and smiles. The feeling of all vibrating on one level. It feels sooooooo good to be back :D!"

You’re coming to Australia soon - what are you most looking forward to?

"It's one of the coolest countries in the world. We'd probably live there if it wasn't for our families being so far away. The people are so effortlessly cool and sexy. Can't wait to be back."

Listen to Wet Tennis here.

@sofitukker