The decade-old Australian pop quintet Dappled Cities are releasing their third album Zounds 9/15 on Dangerbird. We spoke with co-guitarist/co-vocalist Tim Derricourt about the dusky, grandiose synth-rocker “Answer Is Zero.”

What are we to make of the fact that after all these calculations between you and the sun (and vice versa) the “Answer Is Zero”?
Aaah, it was actually a little error on my part. The song designed to verify that the physical distance between the two characters is equal and the same, when submerged in the universe. If high-school mathematics serves me correctly, the answer should actually be one. However zero seemed to stick at the time — maybe it further alludes to the universe by making this distance infinite, like, I dunno, a hall of mirrors?

What inspired the narrative?
The narrative was inspired by a year spent in New York City — a big place far away from my hometown of Sydney, where new-formed relationships seem to always take on an extra-terrestrial flavor in one way or another. I suppose the result is Dappled’s closest thing to a love song — but it’s more a comment on love rather than a classic pine.