What may be of concern is that the successful foreign policy tool was the Brisbane four-piece indie-rock outfit, the Jungle Giants, who toured Asia as part of the lengthy promotion for their 2013 debut album, Learn to Exist.

"In Jakarta they invited us to the [Australian] embassy and we had this little meeting," says the band's frontman, Sam Hales. "They told us we were unofficial ambassadors."

The 22-year-old says that while the band enjoyed their show in Indonesia, especially once they reassured the enthusiastic but polite audience it was OK to make more noise, they might need to work on their protocol for when they meet dignitaries, given what transpired when Australia's ambassador to Indonesia came backstage after their gig.

"He had a secretary introducing him and I had this yoyo on my hand and he was shaking hands with everyone and when he got to me I said, 'Sorry man, I can't get this f---ing yoyo off my hand'," Hales says. "The secretary went, 'Oh my God!' and the room fell silent, but the ambassador was cool with it."

Unfortunately, the Jungle Giants are not available to visit Cambodia, due to the release last month of their second album, Speakerzoid. A top 30 release nationally and Triple J's album of the week, the record keeps their teenage exuberance and adds hip-friendly grooves that make offbeat songs buoyant. Hales, a teenage drummer, builds the band's songs from the rhythm up.

"I'm super-happy being at the front because I get a lot from that, but when I write and demo I've got the drums there to play every day," he says. "Usually that means I'll get a bassline and a little drum progression that I can build up rhythmically. Before any melody gets there, the drums are written."

Hales did most of the writing for the album in Paris, using the many frequent flyer points he accumulated on the road to visit the city his Irish-born mother had lived in as a young woman.

He bought a drum kit in a second-hand shop and hauled it up the staircase to an attic flat in an apartment building in the 11th arrondissement.

With a 360-degree view of Paris, the young songwriter was able to get his head around the many changes the band – Hales and high school friends Cesira Aitken (guitar), Andrew Dooris (bass) and Keelan Bjiker (drums) – had experienced since launching the band as teenagers.

On one level there was a wealth of new sounds to integrate: while touring Jungle Giants had discovered Radiohead, Beck and Jeff Buckley, to name a few new influences.

"The big influence was listening to bands that play around with some wild elements," Hales says. "I'd never heard Caribou before, for example, and that blew my mind. He'd use a flute in a cool way that would complement an indie-rock song."

The resulting tunes are freewheeling, with lashings of percussion, but the lyrics are often drawn to the many relationships, platonic and otherwise, the band have accumulated over the last three years.

A track such as What Do You Think records the pleasurable rush of recognition Hales experienced when he met his girlfriend, Grace, and the pair were frantically swapping inquiries and opinions.

"As a band we came straight from school and at gigs we didn't know anyone, so we'd hang out the four of us, and now we have friends and we're all in relationships," Hales says. "Our world has grown much larger, as have our interests and influences."

The Jungle Giants

When: Friday, September 25, 8pm. 18+

Where: ANU Bar, Acton 18+

Tickets: $44.86 plus booking fee, ticketek.com.au 18+

With: Hockey Dad.