Miami Horror wanted to give every song on their new album a unique identity, writes ARNE SJOSTEDT.
It took them five years to get there. That's enough time to have a baby and see it through to kindergarten or, for Miami Horror's musical mastermind, Benjamin Plant, it's time enough to create a second album he could be happy with.
"There were a lot of people waiting," Plant says of All Possible Futures, the band's lauded follow-up to their much-admired 2010 debut, Illumination. "The longer it took, the more stressful it got; obviously, the more pressure. 
"It's like the longer you take, the better it has to be. It's probably why it ended up with 15 tracks. We really wanted to make an album that people could listen to and grow with, so that it gives you more time to understand every song."
Those 15 tracks were each given a unique identity.
"With every song on this album, we really tried to create new production and new sounds for that song," Plant says. "We made every song from scratch. We really wanted to make every song important in its own way."
With the new tracks moving in to refresh their live set, the band are "really enjoying" playing live. "Everyone is working harder than ever and everyone understands what they contribute," Plant says. "The ball is rolling really strongly."
The indietronica band from Melbourne have been trying to do something different. "It is really about the live show. It's not just us standing there on stage trying to be too cool.
"We're trying to break apart from other bands who don't really do anything, don't really perform as such," Plant says. "That was an odd thing for me to do at first. I don't really do it. I let the singers do it.
"I've always been the guy who thinks you should just stand there and look cool, but what they bring to the table really makes us stand out."
Miami Horror spent the past three-and-a-half years in Los Angeles, and perhaps it was all that time in the Californian sun that kept them from completing their follow-up to Illumination, which reached No 2 on Australia's dance albums charts. It wasn't because of any lack of work ethic.
"We were doing 10-hour days and 14-hour days most weekdays on music for three of those years at least," Plant says. "We were trying to not play many gigs while we're here, because we wanted to be spending time writing."
Still, they made sure they soaked up plenty of their new surrounds.
"We'd try and enjoy LA, get the experience of the place itself as well," Plant says. "The good thing about a lot of America is they have a shutdown time of 2am, so by 1.30am a lot of venues and bars are starting to put the lights on and are starting to stop serving drinks. And the only places you can go are after-hours [venues] or strange house parties and things like that, which can be interesting but after a while get a bit tiring.
"At first you hate it and you're thinking, 'This is crazy, what are they doing?' But then you kind of love it because you can actually get up the next day and do work."
It all comes back to that all-important work ethic. "It's one of the key elements to anything. Whether you want to be an Olympic swimmer or a musician, putting in that time is what makes all the difference."
All Possible Futures is out now. Miami Horror play on   August 14, Metro Theatre, $28.85, 9550 3666.