On a plane of existence far removed from ours, H3000 is the new musical project from Luke Steele (Empire Of The Sun, The Sleepy Jackson) and Jarrad Rogers (Charli XCX, Lana Del Rey), which seeks to tune the heart to a Year 3000 frequency where profound imagery and a melodic anchor challenge the listener to make a connection.

Whether that’s to the fragility of the human heart, a transformative tragedy or the love of the strange, H3000 comes about from a chance encounter and a musical world yet to be explored. Join ‘LUKE 18’ and ‘MSTR ROGERS’ on this transcendental journey as they take on the year 3000 together.

Their debut offering, “July Heat,” fixates on one of life’s hardest, ever-present truths. As Steele puts it: “Who are you gonna serve? It’s either the devil or the lord, but you gotta serve someone.” Along those lines, “July Heat” is complex and variegated, Steele intoning pained poetry over Roger’s glitchy synths and gamer-esque sound design. “Why am I always needing a break / when I meant to be free?” he asks, “Yes, you gotta serve somebody, I know / This ain’t no TV show, go color it in.” Ending the record on a note of inspired ambiguity, it’s a stunning treatise on the many paths one can take.

Meeting in Steele’s adopted hometown of Los Angeles, the two-piece band is as much the product of emotional connection as it is musical ingenuity. “It was the start of summer in California, which is always such a great time,” Steele says. “We just connected. The band is about the heavens and what will be the issues of the heart in the year 3000.”

History’s most beloved music relies on the real-time intermingling of life and art, and H3000 is a collaboration of both elements.  “A connection in the spirit,” as Rogers puts it. When the pair did hit the studio together, according to Steele, it was like being transported to the world of some classic 80s Spielberg film, Rogers walking in with his backwards baseball cap and high-tops - the duo, the unassuming heroes of their own story of magical realism.

“Working on H3000 was like a dream,” Steele says. “We started at one place and ended at another; you don’t really understand how you got there, but you know it was guided by something very special.”