Four Play String Quartet have, according to violinist/vocalist Lara Goodridge, been advancing their sound and developing the sound of their new album, Now to the Future, for the last 2 years.

It was the addition of viola player Shenzo Gregorio that was the catalyst for Now to the Future, she explains. “The four of us have written quite a lot of new material together, and we got ourselves a new studio and off we go! We’re back on tour and very excited.”

Now to the Future features a far more cohesive writing relationship for the group. “Before Shenzo joined the band we used to come in with the songs that we’d each written and simply arrange them,” she explains. “We started for the first time just jamming – it didn’t really happen as much beforehand, and just worked at it, and had fun and made ourselves form songs. We love our originals.”

In terms of determining when to perform an original and when to do a cover, Four Play have slowed it down somewhat on Now to the Future – of the five covers on the 13 track disc, three prove to be interpretations of jazz standards, which comes down to the influence of Shenzo now being a member of the band.

“I think we were getting into the aspect of being a band, and writing a lot more material. We want to set the time aside to do some more original material,” Lara outlines.

But Four Play will continue their experimentation with covers. “We certainly won’t be giving them up; we need to think of some great hits we want to do. We usually do stone, paper, scissors,” she jokes. “We listen to a lot of music and think of strong songs that people know that also will somehow translate as something quite unusual on the strings – something with a really good riff like something like the Strokes cover than we do, and Radiohead, and Jeff Buckley – it’s very melodic and very complex, and that works well on the strings as well”.

Like all groups, it merely comes down to suggestions and experimentations – some things work well immediately, and other things take longer and more work, while others don’t work at all. One of the tricks of Four Play is that a different instrument – be it violin, viola, or cello – can take the ‘vocal’ line in any song, dependent on who knows the song best and who wants to take that role. “Once again we go to stone, paper, scissors,” Lara giggles.

“We just say ‘I want to do that bit!’ or ‘you have to do that screaming guitar bit’. It’s pretty obvious that Peter [Hollo, cellist] does the bass bit and I add some colour and melody, so we know approximately where to take our parts.”

Lara is also singing a lot on this record. “I think I was writing songs specifically with Four Play in mind, and I think it’s a nice different colour to add to the repertoire, and a really different texture.”

It’s certainly added a different element to the group, particularly so when they interpret the jazz standard “Cry Me a River”. “I love singing jazz standards,” she confirms. The particular number in question came about as the group were on tour in Ireland, sitting back afterwards with the venue owner, getting progressively drunker. The band were messing around, and lurched into “Cry Me River”.

“I remember thinking ‘we’ve got to do an arrangement of that’, and we worked on the arrangement for a long time. With the other covers that we’ve done we just took the arrangements, like “My Baby Just Cares for Me” on the first album, and literally took the Nina Simone arrangement of that. For this one we were really making up our own, and we just experimented and experimented, and I guess unlike a jazz quartet where you do have drums, or bass, or a guitarist where the parts are delineated quite clearly, with four strings we certainly had to work on it.”

In fairness to Four Play, none of the ‘covers’ they’ve ever done have necessarily felt like covers per se – instead, they’re very much more interpretations. But Lara isn’t fussed what they’re labelled. “Heck, what’s in a name? We’re not a ‘covers band’, as such, at all. It certainly doesn’t sound like a covers band, so in a sense I guess it is an interpretation.”

Will there ever come a time when no covers, or interpretations, will appear on albums?

“I don’t think so. We love doing the covers,” she outlines. “It’s always fun, and it captures people’s ears because it’s a recognisable thing. It’s a challenge in itself. But you never know.

While it has become increasingly in vogue for many acts – such as Radiohead and Tool – to have string tributes where their songs are taken by orchestras of string quartets or what have you and put through the string ringer, Four Play have barely even noticed, and don’t believe it will effect then one iota. “We’re a live band, and we write our own stuff, and it’s not a gimmick or a one off. We’re not just a string quartet playing interpretation of songs, but we put on a good show and have some good fun.”

Four Play’s Now to the Future is out now, with the group touring accordingly. Dates:
August
Wednesday 16: SolBar, Coolum QLD
Thursday 17: Beach Hotel, Byron Bay NSW
Friday 18: SoundLounge (Currumbin RSL), Currumbin QLD
Saturday 19: The Troubadour, Fortitude Valley QLD
Sunday 20: The Troubadour, Fortitude Valley QLD
Monday 23: Darwin Festival, Darwin NT
Friday 25: Milton Theatre, Milton NSW
Saturday 26: Fireside Festival
Thursday 31: Limelight, Geelong VIC
September
Friday 1: The Palais, Hepburn Springs VIC
Saturday 2: Northcote Social Club, Northcote VIC
Sunday 3: Lewisham Tavern, Lewisham TAS
Wednesday 13: Hotel Permier, Broad Meadow NSW
Thursday 14: Brass Monkey, Cronulla NSW
Friday 15: @Newtown, Newtown NSW
Saturday 16: Heritage Hotel, Bulli NSW
Sunday 17: Tanks Arts Centre, Edgehill QLD