If Little Dragon, Prince and The Weeknd had a baby, it would be Kllo, a boy-girl duo from Melbourne that creates trip-hoppy tracks so catchy you have to scramble to figure out which one to play next. Listeners know it too. The cousin duo barely had an online presence in 2014 before their EP Cusp began to break. (And making music wasn't always a given, either: "We’ve known each other forever but only became close when we started writing music together," Kaul says.)

Since then, Kllo have played sold-out shows and festival slots throughout Australia, racked up millions of plays on Spotify and landed on several Artists to Watch lists. On their latest EP, Well Worn, the duo have developed a more sophisticated — if moodier — sound. Kaul talks to Myspace about Kllo’s origin story.

Hometown and homebase: Melbourne, Australia

You guys are cousins, so you must both have grown up in musical households?

We both did. I was very influenced by my grandmother, who loved music and was also a singer in her time, and Simon grew up with three siblings who are all incredible musicians.

What thing most influenced the Well Worn EP? And why that title?

Every song is quite different on the EP. The “Bolide” song structure was influenced by Caribou's Our Love, "Sense" was created on the piano within a few hours after watching a Disclosure video and “Walls to Build” has drum and synthesizer influences from Jacques Greene. We wrote the whole EP in Simon’s bungalow. It was a small space, which meant we were close together a lot of the time, so it was a very collaborative and connected piece of work. It was hard at times because we would spend so much time listening to it there, we would lose track and change direction over and over again. The end product of the tracks could have all been so different, but over all we decided to go for the simpler versions.

I was 21 when I wrote “Well Worn.” I was still finding balance and figuring out what's good for me, who's good for me, what's important to me, what's not — as well as seeing a lot of my friends in a similar position. Even people as old as 50 in a similar position. The ones around me who were happy, the ones not and why... and I think a lot of it came down to comfortability. Being so afraid of change or of failure that we tend to stay comfortable in what we know because it’s the safe option. No movement is no growth and so remaining comfortable where there is need of change is what will wear us down the most.

Why are you called Kllo?

We were really struggling for a name, mostly because we are both indecisive people. It’s a bit of a blur to be honest, but it wasn’t so important to us because we didn’t take the project seriously initially.

Does living in Melbourne influence your sound a lot? How?

Yes, in ways it does. It’s a very tight knit scene, every one knows every one so it’s easy to find out about gigs and hear what people are up too. Although it’s a small place there’s a lot of great music coming out of here and we are very inspired by our friends and other musicians that we are lucky enough to see play on a regular basis.

Who would you love to collaborate with?

Four tet, Noah '40' Shebib

What do you do for fun?

We love to cook and to eat, very much.

Were you in other bands before? What were they like?

I used to write a lot of original folk music on my guitar but was too afraid to share it. I was very particular about who i worked with or who i’d sing in front of, so Kllo was my first proper collaboration. Simon was a drummer in various indie rock bands before he discovered his love for making electronic music.

How would you describe your music to someone who's never heard of you?

We’re one of those bands that fall under a few genres, but as a broad description we’d say experimental electronic pop music.

How do you share your songwriting duties?

It’s very collaborative, usually we don’t put an idea in unless we both like it, but we have similar taste so it doesn’t end so badly when something doesn’t make the cut. We write everything in the same room, improvising on a piano or synthesiser and then go from there with revised vocal melodies, drum patterns and sampling.

Who/ what are your biggest songwriting influences?

James Blake, Little Dragon, Caribou, Radiohead, Jacques Greene, Erykah Badu

What’s your big rest-of-2016 goal?

We are working hard trying to finish off our debut album, hopefully the demos will be complete by the end of the year.

For more profiles on up-and-coming artists, visit our Artist of the Day page.