For Sydney-based alt pop trio Glades, it’s all about love. Whether for memes, fancy canapés or ski runs in the snow (the latter being the origin of their band name) the band are perpetually vibing off the L word, and with the release of their debut studio album To Love You, we’ve also found ourselves falling hard. “The album covers a spectrum of emotions, but they all centre around love,” explains Joseph Wenceslao who, along with bandmate Cameron Robertson, serves as the band’s multi-instrumentalist and producer. The trio is rounded out by vocalist/guitarist Karina Wykes. “Themes like loving the people around you, loving yourself, and loving people that don’t necessarily want to be loved. So I guess what we hope that people feel a more holistic understanding of love, rather than the two-dimensional form that Hollywood depicts.”

Determined to chronicle more than just your routine fairytale-pop, their lyrics also convey the honest cycle of love, raw and real. Take me back to when I picked a fight with you / right out of the blue / I wish we had made amends / I didn’t mean to lose all the good times I had with you. “Sometimes we start with a track from Cam, or a song title, or just an abstract song concept,” says Wenceslao. “But regardless of how the song starts, all three of us write the lyrics and melody. We feel that it’s important to have the songs as the sum total of the three of us, otherwise it's not the same."

Alongside their poignant lyrics, Glades’ individual sound is an amalgamation of synthetic pop, alternative guitar with a back layer of atmospheric electronic melody. Having first met at William Clarke College in Kellyville, a primary foundation of friendship is crucial to their success, and serves them well when tackling the inevitable highs and lows of touring, learning important life lessons together (like the time they discovered their music equipment had been stolen from the back of their car while dining out in Beverly Hills).

Following the band's performance at Cartier's Precious Garage party in November, this year will have Glades undertake a massive national tour, accompanied by the likes of Anne-Marie and various unannounced secret supports. “We have some other plans in the pipeline that we can’t talk about just yet - but we’ll definitely be taking the album overseas, for sure.” The band will be performing their first ever shows in Asia, from Shanghai and Tokyo, to the V-Hall in Korea on Valentine’s Day before returning to Australia in March. Favourite venue? “The Metro in Sydney is so special … at the start of this year, we supported Clean Bandit on that stage. And just the other week we played our own headline show there. Pretty cool way to bookend 2018.”