Sophisticated lover DONNY BENÉT clues us in on all the slap bass, sax solos, crying guitars and motivational ‘self-talk’ that went into his second album, ‘Electric Love’.

‘All 4 You’

Focuses on themes including self-motivation, confidence and the fulfilment of personal goals and dreams. It’s a song about overcoming self-doubt and allowing yourself to pluck up the courage to ask out that beautiful person that you’re clearly intimidated by yet can’t leave behind. As the years go by, this seems a much easier task and there’s not too much to lose by putting it all out there in the game of love. This song features a sax solo from my brother Dan.

01 All 4 You by Rice Is Nice

‘Electric Love’

The pains of missing your loved one when you're on the road. Finding a way for you to keep the flames of love burning despite the distance. Skype, Internet, telephone – whatever keeps you in touch with your life partner.

02 Electric Love by Rice Is Nice

‘Treat Yourself’

The very few occasions you get to meet up with your lady friend/life partner when on the road and both getting loose in the name of love. Huge jam in the back section of the track channelling 1981 Prince. This was my favourite song to record and I was very inspired by the extended version of Prince’s ‘Sexy Dancer’. I hadn’t played slap bass since I was about 15, so this one took a bit of practice to get right for the recording. It’s a fun track and everyone needs to remember to treat themselves now and again.

03 Treat Yourself by Rice Is Nice

‘Gimme Your Heat’

It's Friday night and everyone wants to have some kind of fun. I wrote this track last year and have given it extensive testing at shows. It’s really fun to sing and usually ends the set. When Ivan Vizintin [from Ghoul] and I were mixing this track, we found the perfect reverb for the snare and clap, which made it sound like 1982 Serbian Disco. It was a very exciting discovery.

04 Gimme Your Heat by Rice Is Nice

‘Julia’

This song was written as a birthday present for a very special Julia. The birthday party was right in the middle of the Electric Love sessions, so I’d given myself a day to write, record and mix it. I wrote the music in about five minutes on the plane and it’s always a very good omen for me when a song writes itself in a short period of time.

05 Julia by Rice Is Nice

‘She's Too Much’

Everyone's had a partner who has the relationship equivalent of food envy. Sometimes they can be too much for one person to love. I wrote this song last year and the demo sounded like a Phil Collins track. I was pretty happy with that.

06 She's Too Much by Rice Is Nice

‘What Becomes Of Me (When You’re Gone)’

Losing love with no explanation is a tough one. Even though sometimes you don’t want to hear what went wrong, it’s much better in the long run to know so you can not repeat it again in another relationship. When I wrote this song, the demo sounded like the theme from Law & Order. It’s a very dense song and there’s about five or six crying guitars in the outro.

07 What Becomes Of Me (When You're Gone) by Rice Is Nice

'You Want To Win All The Time'

Michael Douglas’ personal mantra in Wall Street. Add a huge Moog solo and no GFC can stop this feeling. I’m really looking forward to playing this one live. A close friend told me he listened to this before sitting a university exam. I hope he passed. I’m all for self-talk and I usually sit in the car listening to Alan Vega sing ‘Every 1’s a Winner’ while saying a few words into the mirror before playing a show.

08 You Want To Win All The Time by Rice Is Nice

'You'll Make It In L.A.'

L.A., Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Malibu Beach. It's a tough place to crack the scene. This song is a few years old and was written for Tim Rogers (Jack Ladder) and Kirin J. Callinan for when they went on their adventure to L.A. I’m always writing and recording new songs, which all can’t go on an album, but this one has a special place in my heart and made the grade.

09 You'll Make It In LA by Rice Is Nice

'You're The One'

A ladies song. Girls are so cool and every girl who is a girlfriend/wife/long-term partner should always be told that they’re the one. These three words can make such a difference. This was also a very fun track to record and has a whole pile of synths. Recording this album I had a lot more time and equipment, and I’m lucky to have some beautiful synths. Unfortunately I couldn’t settle on having two synths each track, so a lot of the tracks on the album have maybe four or five per track, which makes the album quite dense. I reckon the next album will have a few less synths!

10 You're The One by Rice Is Nice

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‘Electric Love’ is out tomorrow (Sept. 7) through Rice Is Nice. Donny Benét will launch the album in Sydney at GoodGod tomorrow and in Melbourne at the Workers Club next Friday (Sept. 14).