PVT

Over the years, the Sydney- and London-based trio PVT has shifted its sound across a spectrum stretching from experimental post-rock to dark electro-pop. Laurence Pike, who handles drums and percussion, joined forces with his brother Richard Pike on guitar and production to establish the band in 1999, after which membership fluctuated until laptop musician Dave Miller came aboard in 2005. Originally operating under the name Pivot, the Pikes devoted several years to shaping the group’s first full-length while also teaming up with Triosk, Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas, and Roam the Hello Clouds—the last of which included Miller. The resulting Make Me Love You appeared in 2005 and received an Australian Album of the Year nomination at that edition of the J Awards. Miller and the Pikes enlisted Tortoise’s John McEntire to record their follow-up, O Soundtrack My Heart, at his Soma Electronic Music Studios in Chicago, after which Warp issued both that album and the EP In the Blood in 2008. A trademark dispute with an American band also called Pivot prompted the name change to PVT in 2010, the same year the trio issued Church with No Magic as its first release under the revised identity. In 2012 the group joined Gotye for an Australian tour and aligned itself with Felte, which put out Homosapien—the band’s most pop-oriented album to date—in 2013. With 2017’s New Spirit, the trio turned its attention to political and cultural intolerance within Australia.