The Presets, Digital, Brighton, June 27

4:49pm Thursday 26th June 2008

"We've really cut down on the fat compared to the first album. We love that record but it's a bit more of a journey," says The Presets' Kim Moyes of the Australian electro duo's sophomore release, Apocalypso. "We wanted this one to be a real slam-dunk, so you put it on and it grabs you straight away.

"We've really loved club music, but first and foremost we think of ourselves as a pop band, although we try to bring more depth and beauty to it than Stock, Aitken and Waterman."

Released in the UK at the beginning of the month, the beguiling follow-up to 2005's Beams sees the duo build on the success of last year's My People single with a record abounding with unexpected turns and pleasant surprises.

Moyes and his partner in crime, vocalist Julian Hamilton, are both classically trained and met while studying at Sydney's Conservatorium of Music. They created the guise of The Presets for a club remix of a track by their previous group, the experimental instrumental band Prop.

"We had a bit of a reaction against what we had been learning for so many years and said, Let's make something which is really fun and really stupid and see if it works,'" he explains. "And I suppose it gradually got less and less stupid and more and more fun."

They soon signed to Modular, home of Wolfmother and The Avalanches, on the strength of a five-track demo. Like their compatriots and labelmates Cut Copy, the pair have a strong work ethic, spending the best part of two-and-a-half years on the road to promote their debut album, including UK support slots for the likes of Soulwax and The Rapture.

"It's been a real slow-burner for us," says Moyes. "But people like the songs so far and the crowds are getting incrementally bigger, so we're really happy."

Their entertaining live show has already seen them headline Sydney's Mardi Gras, play to 100,000 people at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and appear at the opening party of Ibiza's Space club last year.

Moyes is speaking during a tour of 2,500-capacity venues in their homeland, which sold out more than eight weeks in advance.

They are big stars in Australia, where Apocalypso debuted at number one on the album charts and has stayed in the top ten for the past two months.

"It's pretty big at the moment but I can still go down to the shops and buy my own groceries without people bothering me," he says. "Although sometimes when I'm DJing people come up to me and shout, HEY! PRESETS GUY!' You have to gently remind them you're a human being."

• From 7.30pm, tickets £7.50. Call 01273 227767 or visit www.yourfutureisdigital.com/Brighton

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