A month has passed since Canberra boys The Aston Shuffle took out the top spot in the 2010 inthemix50 – a win they’re still wrapping their heads around. There’s not much time to ponder their new-found status, though. The months ahead are some of the duo’s busiest yet, with a debut artist album slated for early 2011 and a live show in the works. We got on the phone to The Aston Shuffle to hear how they’re settling into life in the top spot.

So, how far along is the album?
Vance: It’s at the final stages, we’re still waiting for a few vocals, which is always frustrating. Since we’re not really vocalists, we have to farm that stuff out. It’s not an easy thing to relinquish that much control over your deadlines to other people. We’re definitely on track. It’s very close now. We love the idea of collaborating with people who have a kindred approach to us. We’ve definitely figured out over time the vocalists we like working with. It’s something we really enjoy doing; having someone extra to contribute to the process and bounce ideas off.

Mikah: What’s also been good about the recording process over the last 12 months has been being forced to do some self discovery, in terms of learning to write lyrics. It has pushed us to develop more musically.

It must be an interesting process structuring your first album.
Vance: The album format is not something we’ve done before and we’ve listened to our fair share of albums and gone, this is three singles and a bunch of filler. That’s another reason it’s taking so long. We’re learning about how to do it, because we want to do it properly.

Mikah: it’s also taken us time to explore musically what we’re about. Obviously we’ve only done club records and remixes before, and we have all these influences and ideas we’re trying to get out, but it’s how they’re conveyed. We’ve been asking this question for the best part of the year. We now know exactly what we’re doing. It’s scary, but really exciting.

Would you say it’s a ‘song-based’ record?
Vance: It’s definitely club music. There are records that sit well on radio, and others that fit clubs very well. It’s trying to find that balance between a record that’s club-worthy and still enough of a song so that it can have a place on radio. I don’t believe the two things are mutually exclusive. That’s the stuff we vibe off the most. A lot of club music is very disposable; it’s here for two weeks, then disappears. We’ve always strived to make our records more than that.

Mikah: I think our new single Your Love is indicative of where we’re trying to go with our sound. It’s very rave, it’s very us, but radio-friendly.