A couple of weeks back,we featured Talk In Colour in our Top 10 Free Downloads of the Week article. Their song, 'Nightshifts' is a beautiful melding of electronica with harp, cello and traditional band instruments.

Not only is it still available for free download, it also features on new British film, 'Junkhearts', starring Eddie Marson ('21 Grams', 'Sixty Six' and 'Happy-Go-Lucky') and Romola Garai ('The Hour' and 'The Crimson Petal And The White'). Chris Bangs from the band created the soundtrack for the film.

We caught up with Mary Erksine (vocals and keys) and Chris Bangs (cellist, vocalist and producer) as they put the finishing touches to their forthcoming album, 'Colliderscope'.

How did you come to get involved with the film 'Junkhearts'?

Chris: I'd worked with Tinge Krishnan the director before on several of her previous projects, most notably 'First', a sweet film about a girl with learning difficulties who plays the piano, 'The Circle', an end of days a TV drama for Channel 4, and 'Dimensions', and totally out there sci-fi drama for Malaysian TV. All good fun!

Your music seems to have a cinematic quality to it. Would you want to work with film makers more in the future?

Chris: Always! Yeah, I love working to picture. I find the restrictions that you have to work within, (paradoxically) very liberating. When working on just music, half the battle is keeping it simple, the sheer number of options can be over-whelming, and you can end up losing site of the original idea or inspiration.

With film, you know that you have to hit certain key points in a scene, and that the director wants it to sound like this, so the challenge is to create something new, and something unique, but at the same time staying with these very strict boundaries.

You used to be “The Shadow Orchestra”. What prompted the change to “Talk in Colour”?

Chris: Quite a few reasons really, but, the main one was that we felt that the project had outgrown the 'Orchestra' tag: that we were more of a band. Also the Shadow part of the name implied something dark and moody, whereas our music was becoming more playful, more open, less nocturnal and ambiguous.

Given that this is our debut album as a full five piece, (the first Shadow Orchestra album was basically me in a tiny bedroom studio) it was the perfect time to begin again!

You've got a fascinating line up: guitar, keyboard and drums, sure. But you've also got a cello, harp and “electronics”. Luck or judgment?

Chris: Bit of both definitely. I play cello anyway, so I'm always looking to get that in there, but with the harp, when I first starting looking to put together a band to perform the Shadow Orchestra album, at the time I was working on a piece with bass clarinet and harp in it, and low and behold, the next day, I got a message on Myspace saying, 'Hi my name's Kat, I hear you're putting a band together, I play harp and bass clarinet, are you interested?' Bit spooky, but I was like, 'Hell, yeah!'

What do you try to communicate in your music?

Chris: Different things. I'm really into the idea that when you record or create something, then a little bit of that moment gets captured, or least the feeling of that moment. So I guess I'm trying to get across the feeling of the moment when the original idea appeared, be that during a jam, or doodling late at night.

Also, I like how the best music has a very transgressive quality and that's something I'm always aiming for at least. Up till now, with Shadow Orchestra stuff, it was always very emotive, very otherworldly, and for me, it's transgressive quality was that it put you in a different space, particularly with stuff like plucking and bowing, but with the new project, Talk in Colour, it feels more about the joy of combining different styles, different instruments, different ideas...

You've got your debut album coming out in February 2012. Where are you at with it at the moment? How did the creative experience go?

Chris: Ooh, well, yeah this has been a long time coming, this album to say the least! We're in the very last stage with it at the mo, i.e. mixing and garnishing. I always think making music is a bit like cooking, so the soups are ready to go, just need to spring some parsley on top (and possible a whirl of cream).

As a band, we're been working on it for the last four years, a bit here a bit there, but it's really been a big learning curve. Me and Nick the guitarist are mixing it ourselves, as well as performing, so we've had to build a studio which was capable of getting the results we wanted, and then learn how to use it!

What are you listening to at the moment?

Chris: Everything!!! Seriously, if you want to know what we've been listening to, Kat and Mary (aka the Shady Ladies) have a podcast which they put together every month and the whole band submits their favourite tracks of the moment.

My iTunes tells me that I have recently been listening to Kate Bush, Joe Goddard, Tom Tom Club, David Holmes, Bombay Bicycle Club, Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Underworld, Holst (the composer) and an acid house compilation!

There's a lot of melding of different musical styles in 'Nightshifts': traces of everything from folk to trip-hop. How did your sound evolve?

Chris: Always out of jams. No idea where Dave came up with that drum beat in 'Nightshifts', but it's a blinder. Basically, we all have slightly different tastes in music, but all very eclectic, so I guess it finds it's way into the music.

What plans have you got as you look to promote the album?

Chris: Get it to as many people as possible!! Play as many live shows as possible!

What themes inspire you in your songwriting?

Chris: Mary writes the songs whilst riding around London on her bike...!

Mary: Yes - this is true. The songs always come from jams, then Chris and I work together taking bits and pieces and working out what feels like it wants to be a vocal track. Then I'll just mull things over in my head while I'm out and about, and this is mostly done on a bike.

A good melody will usually just pop into my head and I build the rest around it. In terms of themes, the songs on this album are about dreaming and belonging and then there's 'Off Day', which is about an (imagined) one-night stand with Nick Clegg. I'm not sure what theme this would come under.

Find out more about Talk In Colour on their website, Facebook and Twitter pages.