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Designing a new sound

Staff ReporterComment News

As the WA Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) Contemporary Guitar graduate worked up to releasing his first EP in 2013, he realised he was no longer content to be a lone man with a guitar.

He enlisted his cousin, WAAPA Contemporary Drums student Andrew Barnett, of Thornlie, to add the crash of drums to form what is now Foreign Architects.

They released their EP Jane and will launch new single and video Clover under Sydney label The A&R Department at The Swan Basement in Fremantle this Friday.

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‘I had always played solo gigs and I began wanting to push my songs a bit,’ Burke said.

‘You can get a lot more power into the audience when you have electric instruments and a drummer.’

Burke said the alternative pop-rock outfit had a unique sound” Burke’s Fender Stratocaster had a custom split pickup that sent sound through both guitar and bass amplifiers.

‘The result is a huge sound, not at all like just a guy and a drummer,’ he said.

‘So I guess we’re getting a lot of mileage out of the limbs we have.’

Burke said people often asked if the duo was planning to add to its lineup, surprised by the size of the sound coming from just two players, but he said he and Barnett were ‘serving’ songs they believed in and would not change a thing.

He said the single Clover was a perfect example.

‘We’ve got bagpipes going on, the drumming’s got some Latin influences’