A desire path usually describes the trails made by humans and animals that walk an alternate route to the one laid out by pathways or roads.
Used in disciplines of urban design, architecture, as well as UX as a term for understanding natural user experience, ‘desire path’ is a term I’ve only heard alongside a cheeky wink from a friend when I would wander off the binding and prescriptive concrete route home, forging my own way that usually ends with mud in my shoes.
However, the theory of a desire path also encompasses the air and ethos behind the Melbourne band of the same name recently releasing their debut album Lucky Star. In their interview as Independent Artist of the Week on Up For it, it’s unclear whether this is something they realise themselves or simply a happy coincidence to be observed in my shoes as a third-party onlooker.
The path of least resistance, a natural progression, moving with ease all lead towards the same destination. For the band, it was playing together for months prior to their debut. Lucky Stars is a natural destination, or a stop on the way. The band’s shoegaze sound was not planned or curated but happenstance, and perhaps even a mishmash of things that each member – Jacob, Spencer, Zaria, Nadia and Connor – would bring to the table, or was inspired by in that particular moment in time.
Lucky Stars was recorded live, with each member presenting a little idea – riff or chord progression –that would then be played and workshopped as a collective. Zaria makes the endearing comparison to karaoke and baking.
“I’d come in later and it was like a little present of what you guys had created…I’d sing on top of it and then have my melodies that I kind of heard naturally. It was kind of like making a layered cake and everyone kind of knew, like when they found their sound, it kind of worked together.”
The album art complements the sentiment behind the album – a large oil painting by their friend Myles (@mylesredeemed2022), made alongside the instruction of using cool colours and a prescribed playlist. The painting lives in shared custody between members.
“We didn’t really give him much of a brief because we’re all such big fans of his art … We gave him a bunch of songs to listen to and then just said go crazy. I’ve still got to go pick it up though because it’s so big it didn’t fit in Myles’ car so I have to figure out a way to actually get the thing. We have to split custody. Three months at a time or something.”
When it comes to collaborators and the Melbourne scene, desire path identify with the term “no-core” –a phrase coined by their friend Elvis purely as a result of feeling as though there is no core to their scene. desire path explains it as a clusterfuck of friends that play in bands, new bands, one-off bands and network of community and links that overlap in no particular way.
Rather, it is what it is because that’s how it is.
Words by Rhea Thomas