Brendan Thompson and Arash Parsee have never lived anywhere else but Southern California, so it makes sense that their sound—a dreamy-yet-dancey synth-pop—evokes images of sunshine, the beach, and driving through freeways. “We don’t know anything different,” Parsee says. “We’ve never really lived anywhere else.” Still, Thompson says that’s not all there is: “The biggest influence on our sound is the music we love.” Parsee adds, “And the people we’ve met, the experiences we’ve had.” Backed by Nate Chovanec, Peter McArthur and Jason Mittleman, Corsica Arts Club are releasing their EP on June 9.

Hometown and current residence: Los Angeles

Corsica Arts Club used to be a duo, and now it is not? How did that happen?

Arash: Brendan and I went to high school together. We realized very quickly that we had similar tastes and sensibilities and have been best friends ever since. We became friends with Jason, Nate and Peter in college, and when the opportunity came up to open for Spoon they were the obvious choices to fill out the band.

What's it like being in a band with someone you've made music with for over a decade? Were you in other bands before? What were they like?

Brendan: The workflow is very and natural and efficient. We understand each other on both a creative and personal level very well, which makes it significantly easier to bounce ideas off one another.

Arash: There’s a familiar ease to our working relationship because it’s an extension of our friendship. And yes, we have been in bands before, but they were nothing to write home about.

Did you two grow up in a musical household?

Brendan: Yes, our parents had a strong impact on our musical sensibilities. Neither Arash’s parents nor mine have musical backgrounds, but music was always present in both our homes. We were introduced to an eclectic variety of music very early on, from when we were children.

Arash: Some of my earliest memories are of listening to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Bridge Over Troubled Water in the car with my parents, and to Vivaldi at home.

What influenced your self-titled EP?

The Beatles, our teenage years, Jack Kerouac, The Beach Boys, David Bowie and Iggy Pop in Berlin, vintage synthesizers, Roxy Music, Orson Welles, the Hollywood Hills, Malibu, Steely Dan, Thriller, Phil Spector and the Wall of Sound, traveling, David Hockney, photographs of California from the 1960s.

Describe the moment that you two decided to be a band and make music for life.

Brendan: We started composing music very early on in our friendship, and from the beginning we realized that we’d find great amusement in stumbling upon certain ideas—be it a melody, a sound, a chord progression… . It was very gratifying. There’s a great satisfaction to creating something original, but there’s an almost equally rewarding satisfaction in sharing something you’ve created with the world.

Where does your band name come from?

Arash: Without getting too specific, it’s a tip of the hat to how we’ve been meeting up to hang out and make music since we were all teenagers.

Who would you love to collaborate with?

Brian Eno, Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder, to name a few.

What do you do for fun?

Brendan: Recently, I’ve been watching a lot of spaghetti Westerns and building a modular synthesizer.

Arash: I’ve been listening to Dean Martin, rediscovering (Albert) Camus and (F. Scott) Fitzgerald, and watching Mad Men. And of course enjoying the company of our friends!