Sparkspitter are the local Adelaide ambient math rock outfit who like to break genre barriers and will be doing so at the debut of Lost City festival at The Queen’s Theatre (Feb 4-5).

The band consists of a collection of home-grown talent such as members form Bronze Chariot, Thunderclaw, Strega, and Encarta (Matthew Barlow, Rohan Goldsmith and Tom Capogreco).

All bring their distinct influence into Sparkspitter; sometimes heavily layered amusingly clever, minimalist and challenging.

Their early conception led the band into the direction of making movie music.

“We are interested in soundscapey, wallpapery type of music, but not like muzak in the sense that there’s not a lot to pay attention to in there. We like the idea of setting up a feeling in an environment that you can sort of tune out to. There’s plenty of nutrients for your ear-mind-stomachs,” explained Sparkspitter.

There are many pensive and ambient elements to the band’s sound.

It is a certain kind of cleverly constructed maturity and sensibility that almost seems effortless.

Their earlier scores such as The Milkshake and Birthday Little Feller are a good introduction to their music.

Like many of their songs they start off with a simple loop which develops into a combination of competing melodies and beats which in turn comes off as a grand as an orchestra.

The band members’ different backgrounds allow them to come in with a plethora of different styles and genres and ideas. They do not shy away from heaviness either.

At times their guitar lines are as choppy and intense as a Russian Circles tune.

The band seems to be limitless in terms of their genre exploration.

Although Sparkspitter occasionally display some vocals here and there, there doesn’t seem to be full time role for a singer.

‘There are a few moments where we all sing on the LP that we just recorded (it’s getting mixed right this moment), and potentially this might become a larger part of our sound, but we don’t want it to become the focus. We can’t really see a front-man/singer style arrangement being conducive to what we would like to do with our music,” they divulged.

The Adelaide music scene can be punishing because of its geography but this doesn’t hinder Sparkspitter.

They are in full flight and keen to continue their music exploration.

“Adelaide’s great. It’s a really facilitating town for being in a band, especially if you have something interesting to contribute to the scene, because these kids are kind of hungry for it, you know? We’ve had an incredibly positive response from Adelaide through these initial twelve months. Right now, we’re just curious to do some interstate shows and get back into the jam room to write some really crazy material.”

With influences such as Fourtet, Jonsi, HTRK, and Baths; Sparkspitter are ready to take on more and more complex music with more and more experimental edge.

The progress they have made in 12 months is evident of the bands vigour and drive to success.

Be sure to check the band out on their Soundcloud.

Lost City – 4^th & 5^th February @ The Queens Theatre, on the corner of playhouse lane and Gillies Arcade, Adelaide.

Tickets are $30 (+ bf) available at Venuetix outlets and Clothes Line Saga (no bf) on Rundle Street (down the colourful steps).

Unless sold out they will be sold at the door for $35.

For more information visit the Lost City website.