For nearly two decades now, nearly every move that alt-electronic/rock trio PVT has made has been a reaction to the last thing they did. Remaining staunchly self-determined and operating on the fringes means they can continue to do this.

Their first two albums (2005's Make Me Love You and 2010's O Soundtrack My Heart) were instrumental, but then they rebelled against that. Church With No Magic in 2010 experimented with vocals, while 2013's Homosapien had singer/multi-instrumentalist Richard Pike's vocals on every track.

Their latest album, this year's more expansive New Spirit, featured a nine-minute centrepiece (Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend) and lyrical meditations on modern-day Australian culture, but they're restless for change again.

"On the last two or three albums, we've been exploring the parameters of song structures, but it seems we've come to the end of that experiment," says drummer/percussionist Lawrence Pike. "I'd be happy if our next album was three hours of ambient music and drums and choir! I'd like to make instrumental music again, which is weird, because we went through a period of losing the vibe to do that."

Since 1999, the three-piece  – split between Sydney (Lawrence Pike and multi-instrumentalist Dave Miller) and London (Richard Pike)  – have pioneered electronic art-rock music in this country.

"People using laptops on stage is so ubiquitous now," says Laurence Pike airily, "but doing that in the mid-2000s at the Hopetoun in Sydney was like we were from another planet."

Although remaining underrated here, they've cultivated a bubbling interest in Europe and the United Kingdom, releasing music on revered UK electronic label Warp (Aphex Twin, Nightmares on Wax) and collaborating with indie legends like Tortoise's John McEntire, Modeselektor and Prefuse 73.

Fifth album New Spirit is ominous and unsettling. Having lived in London for nearly a decade, Richard Pike's lyrics unpacked a new type of Australiana he has seen unfolding from afar, whether it's plastic jingoism, new conservatism, or a fatalistic (and pessimistic) idea that "all good things come to an end" (Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend).

The lyrics in Kangaroo point to a nationalistic heart of darkness, comparing the image of the kangaroo (laidback but selfish and vicious) to Australian people, while Murder Mall documents a violent stabbing in a suburban shopping centre.

"Richard felt like every time he was coming home he didn't recognise the place where he lived the majority of his life," says brother Lawrence. "I guess, if anything, the album's kind of an appeal to people about the idea of striving for a new feeling, trying to attain some sort of positive spirit, that the country deserves more and is capable of more."

PVT play the Lansdowne Hotel in Sydney on Friday, September 15; and Northcote Social Cub in Melbourne on Saturday, September 16.