Music is an art, but art is always evolving. No one embodies that more than Chase Atlantic: artists who embrace the power of technology while always staying grounded in the connection with their fans. Chase Atlantic is an Australian R&B/pop trio ranked in the top 500 artists on Spotify, they have a new album “LOST IN HEAVEN”, and they’re about to head out on a European tour after successful runs through the US and Australia. Their growth stems from a solid foundation that values growth and vulnerability, but never being vague. For Chase Atlantic “You can be elusive but not vague. Vague is boring.”
In this Chase Atlantic interview, we caught up with Mitchel and Christian to get the inside look at their new album, learn more about how they maintain a healthy dynamic while touring so often, and share a few memes from the Chase Atlantic subreddit to get their reaction.
PLAYBOY: On your subreddit, a fan counted how many times you said “Yuh” in different songs. “LOST IN HEAVEN” has 261. Why are they counting these?
Mitchel: I didn’t know the “LOST IN HEAVEN” count had been done. So, the “Yuhs”—I mean, it just came about. I never really did it on purpose. There are a lot of noises I don’t realize I’m making when we’re recording. So how many were there?
PLAYBOY: Let’s see… “LOST IN HEAVEN” has 261, and “BEAUTY IN DEATH” was the highest at 394.
Mitchel: Yeah, I can remember saying “Yuh” a lot more in that one, but it doesn’t happen intentionally. I did it three times intentionally, but the fact that it’s 261 is nuts.
PLAYBOY: Is it wild to you that people go through and count it?
Mitchel: Yeah, absolutely. Like, I don’t even know how you get into that activity. It surely gets monotonous like five minutes in. Maybe with a little clicker, just going through the whole album.
PLAYBOY: Let’s shift to the process of recording. How many takes do you do when you record?
Mitchel: We don’t comp like most artists do now. They’ll punch in over and over, but we try to do the whole verse in one go to keep consistency. I guess I can be annoying in the studio because I’ll be like 10 takes in going “no I got this” and I won’t break out into sections, and I’ll be like, “Give me one more.” Some songs, like “Numb to the Feeling,” we did in one take.
PLAYBOY: That must help with touring, right?
Mitchel: Definitely. We still use autotune because you want the notes to be correct, especially on the higher songs. It adds some fun. Like in “I DON’T LIKE DARKNESS,” we used intentional heavy autotune where it sounds kind of like Francis and the Lights. It helps with live performances because I’m not thinking about each bar at a time. It’s more about the whole song.
PLAYBOY: Some of your songs can get very emotional and revealing. How do you tap into that when you’re live versus recording?
Mitchel: The songs aren’t vague, definitely not vague. I treat songwriting like a diary. It’s about things I wouldn’t say out loud but can put into a song. The vulnerability helps people relate. When we’re live, it’s about tapping back into that feeling.
PLAYBOY: Do you see the crowd reflecting those emotions back to you?
Mitchel: Definitely. People make signs, but I have terrible vision and can’t see them. Christian or Clinton will see them. You can tell the front row is really emotional, sometimes crying during certain songs. They’re the diehard ones. It’s a beautiful experience. We wear our hearts on our sleeves when we perform.
PLAYBOY: Let’s talk about the album. You took your time with it, to make something, that meant something, despite the pressure to pump out music quickly. How did you handle that?
Mitchel: It’s easier to take your time (laughing)—it’s easier than not taking your time.
Christian: I think Lauren Hill said this, but your first album covers your whole life, it’s everything. For the second album, they want it right away, but you need more life experiences to talk about for each album. Taking those three years gave us more to write about.
Mitchel: Yeah, it’s about having an outlet for real emotions. We write about what we truly feel, and that’s important. You have your voice in your head and the music is the outlet.
PLAYBOY: You’ve obviously been on several tours since the album release. How much of the album were you playing live on the Chase Atlantic US tour and on the Australia tour?
Christian: We were playing about five songs live. Initially, we had three that were already out, and a couple that fans hadn’t heard before—like “MESS ME UP,” “RICOCHET,” “DEMON TIME,” and “NIGHT CALLS.” At the start, it was a bit challenging because our crowd knows every word to our songs. For the first two shows, they were just trying to learn the new ones. But by the third or fourth show, they knew all the words.
Mitchel: Yeah, and the reaction has grown to match that of our older songs. It’s been really cool to see that happen over time.
PLAYBOY: Have you had to make any setlist changes? Were there any surprises about which new songs fans latched onto?
Christian: If I were to add anything, it would be “DISCONNECTED.” I love that song and it would translate well live, but I wasn’t sure how fans would react. They ended up loving it more than I expected, but we also wanted to ensure we weren’t giving away too much before the album came out. Now that it’s out, it’s a good song to add to the setlist. Adding “HOURS LOST,” where Mitchell could speak to the crowd, would be really good too.
PLAYBOY: We listened to the album and “MESS ME UP” immediately clicked and it stopped us in our tracks, that was the song.
Christian: That’s awesome to hear. We hope that as people listen more, they’ll find other tracks that resonate as well. Our music is layered; there’s always more to discover.
Mitchel: We put a lot of thought into every layer of our music. We’ve always cared. There’s other musicians that don’t care about the music, which doesn’t make any sense to me. They’re out there making music… it’s weird.
Christian: Something we learned, when we started music production, is that we wanted the instrumentals to stand on their own by themselves without anyone singing over them. That makes the extra layer, that wouldn’t be there if you were just making a beat.
Mitchel: That’s subconsciously, our little secret layer. The counter melodies that are happening with the synths in the background. If you picked it apart, you’d be able to hear it, but these little cues that you don’t fully notice make you ask “why do I like this so much” and that’s the reason.
PLAYBOY: Speaking of layers, how do you feel about the compressed sound of digital listening versus live or vinyl?
Mitchel: We make the songs very stereo and very spacial, they’re very wide. We put an auto-pan on high hats to make it seem like the music is circling around your head. It’s science—but in an emotional way, but mathematical. We take that all into account and then we work with Seth, one of our only trusted people (we are very particular), and he masters the songs in a way that extracts the most from the song without it being condensed into a monotone box.
Christian: We sit in this room with two speakers worth $100,000 each in this incredible studio and listen to everything. Then we unplug it and listen to it on a macbook computer. If it doesn’t sound good, then it’s not good, because that’s how people listen.
PLAYBOY: We heard that this album is the first time you used AI in Chase Atlantic music to “separate stems from older songs.” For those of us who can barely sing jingle bells, what does that mean?
Christian: It means Mitchell left his computer in the rain. Basically for many of the instrumentals, the song ideas were 2 or 3 years old, so when it came to the mixing and EQ process to use the songs for this album, the drums and bass weren’t separated, and the synth lines weren’t isolated either. One of the things Seth has been working on is AI technology that separates the stems, allowing us to EQ individual channels—separating the bass, drums, and synths. You can even remove elements, which just makes everything sound cleaner. Especially with someone like Seth, it’s done without the usual artifacts. There are other companies doing this, but not as well. It’s about taking these old instrumentals and making them sound modern, EQing them to match today’s standards.
Mitchel: We’ve always been able to do a lot with minimal resources. We make music on the road, and we’ve become very adaptable—resourceful is the word. We find ways to make it work. Even if we have to sit for hours and EQ one drum pattern.
PLAYBOY: That’s incredible. Balancing all of that with touring must be tough. How do you manage it?
Christian: We look after each other. I think because we are such veterans, touring is where it’s the hardest. Being on the road is when you have the beautiful moments of performing and seeing all the success and the hard work, but also not being able to cook your own meals, with crossing borders and travelling and flights… You take it easy on each other. You know when to give each other some distance and when to give each other a hug. And we know that just from 11-12 years of doing. Most bands get along in the early stages but have a harder time the longer they’re together. It’s been the opposite for us. Not that we scrapped in the beginning, more that the older we get, the more we appreciate everything we get to do with each other and be thankful for each other.
Mitchel: I’m very grateful to everyone around me, that we are surrounded by thoughtful human beings. We’re understanding and not narrow minded. We keep each other in check, but without attacking one another. It’s like handling a relationship—it requires effort and understanding. You have to try. We always look after one another and make sure everyone is on the same page.
PLAYBOY: What do you want people to take away from this phase of Chase Atlantic?
Mitchel: Understanding that vulnerability is ok, mental health is important, and growth is constantly happening. Life is full of ups and downs, and that growth is every day. It’s ok to talk about how you’re feeling.
Christian: And that goes for other artists too, it’s ok to be vulnerable.
Mitchel: I would love to hear vulnerable music from other artists. You can be elusive, but you don’t have to be vague. Vagueness is boring.
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You can stream Chase Atlantic’s latest album “LOST IN HEAVEN” here, and catch them on their European tour starting in April.
