Just before Christmas, Craig Smith and Graeme Clark left the chilly Northern Hemisphere behind for the sunny shores of Australia. It’s fitting the guys are here just as summer is setting in, as warmth is something of a 6th Borough Project signature. The duo’s records on the likes of Delusions of Grandeur and Instruments Of Rapture sit squarely at the deep, hypnotic end of the four-four spectrum, and 2011’s full-length One Night In The Borough showed even more shades to their sound. We caught up with 6th Borough Project to hear why the partnership’s a good one.

Graeme, I’ve heard you talk before about being pleasantly surprised at the scene down here. What have been some of the standout parties you’ve played here?
Graeme : The Co-Op and Picnic parties in Sydney have always been a blast for me, and Sugar in Adelaide always delivers the goods. This year I’m getting a chance to play some different parties with Craig too, which I’m looking forward to immensely.

So, how does the 6th Borough Project work – do you both bring quite different approaches/methods to the process? Or is it more a case of seeing eye to eye?
Graeme: I think the key to a successfully collaboration is to know when to step back and let the other person step forward. We seem to do this quite naturally together both in the studio and in the club and it makes for different results that wouldn’t be achieved if we were working solo.

Craig: I always find that collaboration in the studio and in the club is a quite a difficult thing to achieve, but as Graeme says we seem to have found a knack to let each other express themselves without encroaching on the other. This leads to a much better results and a better working relationship.

What appeals most about working in slower BPMs?
Graeme: We like to keep it varied because we appreciate a lot of different types of music, so we never set out with the intention of making a certain type of track at a certain BPM. We just go with what feels right for the track.

Craig: Yeah, for me it has never been about one tempo or the other. We just go with the flow.

When you’re making a track as 6BP, are you thinking of how it will work within the dynamics of a club, or does that not factor?
Graeme: Our arrangements are generally focused around club tracks, so it is important. We’re always looking out for something we can play out in a bar or club environment, but if it fits into another context then that’s cool too.

One Night in the Borough flows together as a whole in a way that a lot of electronic albums don’t manage. Did the ordering of the 15 tracks happen quite organically?

Graeme: We wanted it to hang together as a complete work so we had several different tracklistings that we distilled into the final one. The CD release is our intended listening order for the album.

Craig: For me this was a crucial when we made the LP. It had to be listened to as a coherent piece as well as the individual tracks working on their own.

Do you guys have to be in the same room to make it work, or can you send files back and forth to come up with something?
Graeme: We always work together in the same room. I’ve got a studio in Glasgow and Craig will bring through some ideas and we’ll throw things together and get started that way normally. It’s very organic.

On other projects I’ve work that way but with myself and Graeme it’s always been working together in the studio. I prefer this as you get many more unexpected results and are able to riff off each other.

How often do you get to DJ together as 6th Borough Project? How differently do things go when you’re back-to-back rather than DJing alone?
Graeme: We don’t do a lot of gigs together as we are still a very niche thing I guess, and the cost of bringing two artists as opposed to one makes it a stretch financially for promoters. But it makes it more special when we do, and we bounce off each other in a similar way to our studio work.

Anything in particular you’re looking forward to trying out on this tour?
Graeme: There’s a couple of unreleased remixes we’re looking forward to roadtesting, for sure.

Craig: Yeah definitely look forward to trying out some of our new material for sure. Also seeing if the music that gets the best reaction at home and Europe works over here. I was born in Melbourne but left when I was less than two years old so this tour is a bit of a homecoming.

Get acquainted with the glorious deepness of 6th Borough Project with the duo’s Australian tour mix below.