Interview: Daste Chat About New Album, dasteWORLD and Upcoming Tour

Smooth groove trio daste. have long been crafting immersive, genre-blurring soundscapes that blend soulful indie, dreamy electronica, and rich R&B textures. With their latest release dasteWORLD, the band continues to push their sonic boundaries while maintaining the heartfelt lyricism and lush production that have become their signature. We caught up with the trio to dive into the inspiration behind their new music, their creative process, and what’s next for daste. as they carve out their own unique space in the Australian music scene.

dasteWORLD has been described as your own little world—a space you escape into when writing songs. Can you tell us more about how this concept shaped the album’s sound and themes?

The concept came about while we were already in the midst of making the album. We knew we were working towards making a record, but we were still figuring out the concept as we went. That’s usually how things happen at daste. – everything ends up falling into place naturally and we have lots of faith in the process. The name was officially decided while we were on a writing trip down in Wooli, NSW in 2023. We had just finished writing Starwriter and we were sitting on the back deck talking about the concept for the album. By this point we knew we wanted it to be based around a place. I remember we were chatting about the concept being about a hotel, where every floor was a different song (we may circle back to this at some point). We ended up landing on dasteWORLD as it was actually the name of an unreleased podcast we made back in 2021, and we loved the sound of it. We also felt like dasteWORLD was a perfect concept for the album because we liken writing music as a world we get to explore together. To summarise, if anything it’s like the sound and themes were already coming so naturally from whatever we were making together, and once we landed on the name, we just kept doing whatever came naturally. And to come back to the “everything falling into place” thing – Atlas was one of the first songs we wrote for the album, and we wrote that around the myth of Atlas, who had to hold the world above his head for eternity. Full circle.

You’ve been teasing the album with previously released singles like Around, Colours, and Atlas. How do these tracks fit into the bigger picture of dasteWORLD as a whole?

Those three songs had already been written before we’d decided that dasteWORLD was the concept for the album, but I love how the visual for Around is a globe spinning around and around and around and around. And how Atlas is based around the myth of Atlas holding the world above his head!

You mentioned that writing this album gave you a sense of purpose and connection. How did this process differ from your previous releases, and what did you learn about yourselves along the way?

Along our journey, we’ve had moments of the three of us living in different places, and over time we felt that was affecting our overall sound and output as a band in general. Once we had the idea of taking trips away to be able to dedicate a chunk of time to creating together, we felt the spark and connection that we had lost since making our first two EP’s. We still enjoy writing on our own, but we just know the “dastiest” songs come from when we write all together.

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You’ve just wrapped up the Australian leg of your dasteWORLD tour, including shows supporting Still Woozy. How did it feel to play these songs live, and were there any standout moments from the tour?

We didn’t play too much of the album, having said that, we’re really enjoying the songs we have been teasing in the live set. We figured as an opener, we wanted to show a fresh audience some of the favourites, sprinkled in with the new stuff (our upcoming tours will be very album heavy though). It was an amazing experience, playing some iconic venues, and the biggest crowds we’ve ever had. One highlight would be the Brisbane show at the Fortitude Music Hall. There was a special moment in the song ‘Butterfly’ when our keys player Aidan Rahman ran up to Cal’s mic and shouted out the whole band, really riling up the crowd for the last chorus. We’ve been saying for years that the man needs a mic, and now there’s no hiding!

You’re about to embark on your first UK and European tour, including festival slots at Footsteps, Dot to Dot, and Cross The Tracks. What are you most excited about for this next chapter?

We’re excited to visit new places, eat new foods and play to new audiences. Really looking forward to translating the new songs to the stage and meeting even more incredible artists along the way.

If listeners could take away one feeling or message from dasteWORLD, what would you want it to be?

Never give up on yourself.