It's a common claim, of course, for records to have captured the essence of a live performance. But, in the case of the former Canberra band - who is now based in Melbourne - it is genuinely something they have not only aimed for but achieved with their upcoming release, Something Like This But Not This.

Part of that is because of who they are as a band - the four-piece will always go into the studio, performance-ready. And part of it comes from the upheaval that has come with Covid.

The band had the songs written and ready to go before the pandemic and headed to Sydney to start recording at Golden Retriever Studios with their producer Ben Moore. They got through a few days of recording - laying down the tracks for the drums and bass - before Sydney started to shut down because of COVID. The band returned to their home base of Melbourne, expecting to wait it out.

"At that point, we didn't understand the severity of everything and we thought let's just be safe and let's go back," Versegi says.

"We did fully expect to just reschedule the recording session for a few weeks later. And then that just turned into something so much bigger than we could have expected."

Hope was not lost, however. Their friend and fellow musician Calum Newton lived within the restrictive radius Melbournians were placed under and he had an at-home recording studio.

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What's more, suddenly the band had all the time in the world to record - something they didn't have the luxury of before.

While places such as Golden Retriever Studios are amazing places to record, there are time and money constraints that come with it. This new way of life, meant the band didn't need to worry about any of that.

"We were able to experiment a little bit more," Versegi says.

"As much as we come into recording sessions super prepared - and make sure that we can play everything perfectly before we show anyone - it was cool to be able to sit back and try out some different things.

"We could be more experimental with some synth tracks that we've used and putting different harmony ideas and stuff on that we probably usually would have had to put aside for the sake of getting things done within a certain timeframe."

Fans have already had a taste of what's to come with Something Like This But Not This - which is due to drop on October 8 - with the band already releasing four singles: Something, Inadequacy, Cold Water, and Too Many.

A brief reprieve from lockdowns earlier this year did mean that some of these tracks even got a live performance debut. As for the rest of the album, fans will have to wait until Moaning Lisa can dust off their performance skills and get back on the road in 2022 - a tour which will include a gig at Canberra's Transit Bar on March 19.

"I've been a little bit nervous that I'll forget how to play the guitar. I know it's in there. You can bring it back out, like riding a bike, right?" Versegi says.

"We were lucky enough to have that brief stint in April/May when we were able to do some shows then, and that was phenomenal. But we rehearsed four times a week for the four weeks leading up to it. We were all so nervous that we would forget how to do things, and it just wouldn't come back.

"I'm one of those people who is the laziest musician and never practice. I hate rehearsing. I'm a fake-it-until-you-make-it sort of performer. I get all the adrenaline from being on stage and having people looking at me, which makes me perform well."

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