“Wanna go to outer space?” asks Body Language’s Matt Young as he toys with his intergalactic synth before rehearsal gets under way. It’s a Monday night, and I am hanging out with the band in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn in a homemade studio that Matt and his roommate/bandmate Grant Wheeler have built over the past year.

“Obviously,” I reply. In some ways, though, it’s a belated invitation. After attending a show and listening to the newly released Social Studies EP, I’m already aboard their spaceship, which scoops up groove-a-licious vibes and plops them into a zero-gravity playground. Or, as Grant puts it, “We’re taking things that are going on with dance music right now and fusing them with soul music.”

Nowhere on the EP is this more evident than in “Falling Out,” a track I recommend dancing to as you’re wrapped in your towel and contemplating what duds to pull on before heading out to a party. Matt’s vocals are in dialogue with Angelica Bass’ (you can call her Ange, Angie, or even Jelly Bear) and then blend seamlessly in the chorus where the personalities agree, “It’s cuz we had a falling, falling, falling, falling out.” The lyrics and accompaniment further that feeling of weightlessness and surrender that is central to the Body Language brand, though the band itself is as refreshingly down-to-Earth as ever in conversation.

Grant, Matt and Ange all met at Hartford College: “I went there because they had a great acoustics and audio engineering program,” explains Matt. In that vein, Body Language was founded. “We’re electronic musicians at heart,” affirms Grant. During the rehearsal, I witness his fooling around on a sampler and cursing rather amusingly when he triggered one sample off the beat, making everything sound a little weird for a measure or two. He smiles through all his frustration. He seems the one who is hardest on himself and yet most forgiving and nurturing to the others, something all too necessary when trying to take electronically conceived songs in the realm of live performance.

People often assume that “electronic music” isn’t something that is “performed.” Often, they are right; bands trigger backing tracks and then simply accompany with one or two instruments and some vocals. Body Language may use backing tracks here and there, but if you see them live, as I first did this past summer at Mercury Lounge, you won’t feel like you’re being duped by poor performers. No way. Their live show is energetic, dynamic, dance-inducing and especially punctuated by the syncopated shimmies of Ange at center stage. When I saw them again at Public Assembly’s Neon Gold CMJ Showcase, I knew I had to interview and write about them.

When I ask drummer Ian Chang, the band’s youngest member who is currently finishing up at NYU, about other locations out of which they might like to be based, despite his total satisfaction with New York, discussion takes a surprising turn to the opposite end of the country where the band played one of its favorite shows.

Ian: I would be down for doing something in the northwest and also, actually, in San Diego

Grant: It was one of the more relaxing places on tour [they were opening for Sia]

Matt: People really really got down too! And people were still in line for our merch when the venue was closing

Ange: And people wanted to hang out and really talk about the music!

So… props to San Diego, the hometown of Ron Burgundy! (Based on the Anchorman soundtrack, actually, I could imagine Body Language being Ron’s favorite band.)

As Ian slurps down glass noodles and Grant compulsively turns a penny into an everlasting dradle across the table, I decide to ask the cheesiest question I can: “So, given the band’s name, do you all have actual body language when you’re on stage?” Idealistic writer that I am, I was hoping I’d learn about the little things an audience doesn’t notice, but that make the band’s sound gel together or help them to resolve sound issues. What I got: on small stages, Ian’s high-hat often pinches Grant’s ass. Laughter ensues, and continues, as I move on to less ambitious questions:

So what would you cover if you could, in this project or in another one during your lifetime?

Matt: Everything by Sam Cooke and Otis Redding.

Ange: I’ve always wanted to do “Ghetto Superstar” by Pras, Mya and O.D.B., but no one raps. It’s O.D.B.’s birthday today, actually.

Grant: “Love Me Down” [by Atlantic Star]

Ange: We’ve covered “Sandwiches.” Every time I sing that song, I’m like, you’re singing about SANDWICHES! It’s so dumb but people love it. They scream.

Matt: I really wanna cover “Hyperballad” [by Bjork] before I die.

Grant: We’re considering “Rum & Coca-Cola” by the Andrew’s Sisters for our acoustic set.

Ange: Realistically I think it would be Chaka Kahn. “I Feel For You.” That would be a sick song that we could actually play. Yeah, I’d love to do Beach Boys, but…

And what about guilty (or not-so-guilty) pleasures that are on your iPod?

Grant: “Say My Name” [by Destiny’s Child]

Ange: You really like that song!

Matt: I hear him singing it in the shower.

Ian: Growing up in Hong Kong, you aren’t exposed to a lot. The first [American] things I heard were ‘NSync and Backstreet Boys, and then [in boarding school in America] ibiza, and then emo. Right now, I really love Elton John, and his new album that just came out is really great. And Nicki Minaj… she has like three different voices! She’s really visceral and animated.

Matt: My guilty pleasure is “Fuck You” by Cee-Lo (NOT the Gwyneth Paltrow Glee version!)

Ange: Right now, mine is “Whip My Hair” [by Willow Smith]. … And that song came out the day after I cut my hair off. I was like, “Ohh noooo! I ain’t got no hair left!”

Fantasy places to live?

Matt: I wanna live on the top of a mountain, have a crazy studio. It would be all solar powered. Off the grid. Deer and shit everywhere. Rabbits!

Ian: He’s speaking for himself.

Grant: Generally, I think we are in the right place for what we are doing. The community is so tight-knit…. We are a beginning band, we haven’t been around that long, so just to have that proximity, it’s a resource that so many can’t tap into. So, we like it here.

All definitely agree on that point–Brooklyn is a blessing. Body Language are not scene-o-phobes. They love meeting different bands and musicians at shows, in studios, etc. To celebrate that community, they’ve booked up four nights of Brooklyn shows in December with friends. On December 4, they join Diamond Rings, Austra and ArpLine at Glasslands Gallery. On December 6, they begin their FREE “Jackfrost the House” residency at Brooklyn Bowl, which continues December 13 and 20.

Meanwhile, the band has narrowed 27 new songs to 10. Expect a new album with new sounds within a year. “Every album is going to be different. You don’t have to worry about our maturing or changing because that’s a constant,” says Matt. “The hardest part is deciding what 17 we had to leave out.” (Ummm, we’ll take them all!)

Anything else you want the world to know about Body Language?

Grant: Free EP. Free EP is GOOD!

Ange: We’re afraid of the dark.

Perhaps this is why Ange is the captain of the sparkle station (see video above)!

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Photos courtesy of James McDowell