Biography
Intense. Intriguing. Improvised. Ingenious.
While all of these words could be used to describe Perth band Intenso, the only way to truly grasp the trio’s enormous musical talent and distinctive flair is to hear it for yourself.
The three-time WAM Experimental Song of the Year winners are well known in the West thanks to their unconventional songwriting and performance style.
Bauhaus meets No Wave meets indie rock as these three highly skilled musicians bend time signatures, rhythms and chord progressions on the fly.
Intenso formed in Fremantle in 2009, starting as a duet and becoming a trio the following year. With the perfectly balanced combination of Steve Elkins (Futurist, The Kids, Beaverloop) on Rhodes piano, Tobias Anning (Empty Cup, Fall Electric, The Claps) on drums and Adam Ismail (Red Cloud, The Claps) on synths and sampler, the band completed its first studio recording in 2011.
Their most recent EP The Stars Are Cold Toys was released in August 2018, receiving airplay on RTRFM and media attention at home and abroad.
Listening to Intenso is an immersive experience; a fever dream rich with a relentless cascade of colours and textures.
Ethereal sounds are layered over captivating beats, creating a wall of sound that will intrigue you with its intricacy, soothe you with its beauty and then knock you to the floor with its power.
The band’s creative energy is inspired by the Futurist and Surrealist art movements as well as literary writers like Cormac McCarthy and Hunter S Thompson.
As well as their WAM Song of the Year wins in 2015, 2017 and 2018, Intenso were part of The Cinematic Scores II Fringe World Festival show 2013, in which they improvised a film score in real time.
Although improvisation is always how the creative process starts, the band also enjoys the challenge of refining, recording and performing tracks as distinct and recognisable songs.
It takes an insane level of musical skill to even attempt such a task, but these three are up to the challenge – and that makes Intenso a band to watch.
What people are saying
“A threesome who are best described as absolutely fucking insane. Armed with a sampler, a Rhodes and drum kit, the trio arranged themselves in a triangle formation … and proceeded to blow minds with a 30-minute set of improvised aural destruction.” – Matthew Tomich, Presenter, RTRFM
While all of these words could be used to describe Perth band Intenso, the only way to truly grasp the trio’s enormous musical talent and distinctive flair is to hear it for yourself.
The three-time WAM Experimental Song of the Year winners are well known in the West thanks to their unconventional songwriting and performance style.
Bauhaus meets No Wave meets indie rock as these three highly skilled musicians bend time signatures, rhythms and chord progressions on the fly.
Intenso formed in Fremantle in 2009, starting as a duet and becoming a trio the following year. With the perfectly balanced combination of Steve Elkins (Futurist, The Kids, Beaverloop) on Rhodes piano, Tobias Anning (Empty Cup, Fall Electric, The Claps) on drums and Adam Ismail (Red Cloud, The Claps) on synths and sampler, the band completed its first studio recording in 2011.
Their most recent EP The Stars Are Cold Toys was released in August 2018, receiving airplay on RTRFM and media attention at home and abroad.
Listening to Intenso is an immersive experience; a fever dream rich with a relentless cascade of colours and textures.
Ethereal sounds are layered over captivating beats, creating a wall of sound that will intrigue you with its intricacy, soothe you with its beauty and then knock you to the floor with its power.
The band’s creative energy is inspired by the Futurist and Surrealist art movements as well as literary writers like Cormac McCarthy and Hunter S Thompson.
As well as their WAM Song of the Year wins in 2015, 2017 and 2018, Intenso were part of The Cinematic Scores II Fringe World Festival show 2013, in which they improvised a film score in real time.
Although improvisation is always how the creative process starts, the band also enjoys the challenge of refining, recording and performing tracks as distinct and recognisable songs.
It takes an insane level of musical skill to even attempt such a task, but these three are up to the challenge – and that makes Intenso a band to watch.
What people are saying
“A threesome who are best described as absolutely fucking insane. Armed with a sampler, a Rhodes and drum kit, the trio arranged themselves in a triangle formation … and proceeded to blow minds with a 30-minute set of improvised aural destruction.” – Matthew Tomich, Presenter, RTRFM
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Press Assets
They talk about us
"Falling into that latter category were openers theintensoband, a threesome who are best described as absolutely fucking insane. Armed with a sampler, a Rhodes and a drum kit, the trio arranged themselves in a triangle formation at a cramped corner of the stage and proceeded to blow minds with 30-minute set of improvised aural destruction."