It was a shared appreciation of “psychedelics and exploring that space” that brought Alister Wright (Cloud Control) and Nick Littlemore (PNAU/Empire of the Sun) together as Vlossom, Wright tells Apple Music. With their name inspired by what Wright calls “the jumbling up of words” he experiences while tripping, that psychedelic sensibility flows through My Friend, whether it be in the propulsive electro-pop of “Catch Your Breath” or the relaxing, meditative closer “Triplets”. Littlemore and Wright first started working on the six-song EP in 2018 following a chance meeting in Adelaide. Soon, the pair were hanging out at Littlemore’s Bondi flat. “I just got in there and was singing about whatever came into my head,” says Wright. “I think that’s the best way I work. The less I think the better. I’m just listening to the songs and following wherever the melody goes.” Here, Wright talks through each track on My Friend. Catch Your Breath “I just had a big DMT trip the day before recording. It was the first time I’d ever had DMT, so I was in this headspace of ‘the entire world feels different, my sense of reality has changed’. So that’s how I was feeling. And then I remember one of the things I sung was ‘You’ll only want to catch your…’ I didn’t have a last word. And then Nick was like, ‘Breath!’ Then it became ‘catch your breath’. It’s like, when you’re thrust into something amazing and you’re just on the edge of being overwhelmed and you can’t really catch your breath, it’s that kind of feeling.” My Friend “There’s something about the groove and the beat that made me feel like it was a city kind of song. You’re walking through the city, you’ve got that cool kind of energy, you’ve got somewhere to go. I was just imagining being a really cool guy walking down the street in the city. When Nick first played me the song, he had sung ‘my friend cubensis’, I guess about the mushroom. But we changed it to ‘my friend, you saved us’. Nick’s old vocal is still in there underneath if you listen really closely.” Missing You “This one is more like a fun song. When you miss someone, it’s a good test—you know you love them. It was funny ’cause my girlfriend’s in Australia and I was in LA at the time, and it just felt like missing her. It’s nice. This just has a fun, happy feeling.” Gotta Prepare for This “I guess the whole project feels like just wanting to bring people together. Make people feel connected. So that, in a general sense, is what I’m trying to put out in this song. And now we’re in coronavirus, we need social cohesion, we need people to feel connected to each other and not just rely on laws or authority to guide people. I think people need to be guided by love for each other. The song is about wanting that feeling of people looking out for each other and loving each other.” Tabs “When I was freestyling [over Littlemore’s music], I was thinking of memories of summer and some really nice experiences I had, and flashes of those memories surfaced when I was trying to sing the melody, and I’d sing them into the song. There are little moments that for some reason keep bubbling up through your memory and find a way into a song.” Triplets “It’s about wanting to change things, but you can’t really as you’re always in the moment—there’s nothing else but the moment that we’re in. I feel ‘Triplets’ has this beautiful meditative feel that I guess made me feel those kinds of things. I meditate, so it made me think of that feeling where you’re homing in on what you can sense in the moment, like what you can hear or what you can feel, the air on your skin.”