Gelbison were amongst of host of groups to emerge in the early part of the 2000s to be doing something different – their worldly sound, obviously influenced by `70s experimentation but with a solid grounding in pop songwriting.

But, after two albums and a member who decided that married life with Toni Collette was preferable to traipsing around Australia, Gelbison are no more. The principle members of the group – brothers Edo and Nadav Kahn – are still together, still writing music, and have now released their debut album under the own name, Love Melts Fear.

“We can’t get away from each; God knows we’ve tried!” Edo jokes.

He’s firm in the belief that the brothers will eventually make albums separately from one another, but is completely unsure as to what they’ll individually sound like. “I know I’m going to do a really basic record – just acoustic guitar and voice, and I know Nadav has a whole bunch of songs that he wants to do himself, so we’ll see what they sound like.”

But that’s a long way down the track – for the moment, the Kahn brothers are focussing on, well, the Kahn Brothers.

“I loved Gelbison, but it’s like when a marriage is over. It was just time. We’ll still play some of the songs if people want us to play them live,” he assures, “but Gelbison was a different thing, and this is all new.”

Obviously as he and Nadav worked together to create the Gelbison sound, he says that they didn’t have to put themselves in a different mindset to write as the Kahn Brothers – it was just a natural evolution in the songwriting process. “We’re just different people and as you change your music changes, and what we wanted to do then we did, and what we wanted to do this time is different in the sense that it wasn’t about making a sonic record – it was about the songs that came and just recording them very organically with no electronic stuff.”

It’s a continuation of Gelbison’s central message – and it’s right there in the title – and spiritual content. “It’s more direct,” Edo says of the lyrical content this time around, “whereas in Gelbison it was more encoded, more abstract in a way.”

As he’s got older, Edo has realised that he can put himself out there openly and freely – as he’s experienced more, he’s able to see the world through older eyes, with less fear and more maturity and knowing who he is and what he wants to say as an artist. “This last three years has been a period of transformation,” he says, “and I’ve been to India, and done music disability workshops for the past three years.

We used to do that once a week, but it became almost like a full-time thing where we were doing 10 to 15 workshops a week, and learning a lot from people who just express music for joy, without any agenda.

“That was a huge healing,” he says of the experience. “It’s people with Downs Syndrome, autism, people in severe rehabilitation where they’ve fallen off their skateboard and suffered brain damage, people who’ve tried to commit suicide or have had accidents, or people just born with certain degenerative diseases. We developed this program that involved songwriting, drumming, then guitar stuff, and meditation and relaxation. It’s been awesome.”

That vibe of finding joy in music is apparent throughout the album, where Edo and Nadav seem to be revelling in a real joy in the process of creation. “That’s been the thing – to flow, and go back to the organic stuff that we grew up on, like singer-songwriter and something that gives people hope and helps them realise who they are. For us, too, a lot of these songs were like conversations between myself and me – guiding myself through stuff.”

Kahn Brothers’ debut album is out now, with the duo to tour soon. Check the gig guide for details.