Sleep Country / Motorbike

Cheap bundle of the debut EPS from lilo and Blue Bendy.

lilo - Sleep Country PMVXEP09
Though London-based duo lilo have only recently emerged, theirs is a bond that runs a decade deep. Christie Gardner and Helen Dixon met at school aged 11, and from that day forward have forged an unshakeable creative bond. Their music, with gossamer harmonies and finely-spun acoustic arrangements, bears witness to two friends coming of age together; as they navigate new creative ground, they are etching out their own distinctive sound.

Their debut EP ‘Sleep Country,’ released early 2022, was built on crystallised moments of calm and contemplation, with vocals that, while grounded and confessional alone, soared as they came together. Over the five tracks that make up the EP, Christie and Helen explore new perspectives on love and friendship, often through the frame of loss. Despite this, the tone remains distinctly hopeful, choosing to treasure the small things in the face of larger sadness.
It’s a sound that calls to mind the timeless ethereality of Laura Marling, but that is only the first glimpse of the versatility of lilo’s sound. Their new material is set to break new ground in the UK indie-folk landscape, incorporating a more full-bodied, band-driven direction, weaving elements of slow-core and offbeat country-pop refractions, while still staying true to their dulcet roots.
lilo weave intimacy into the fabric of their music; through collaboration they translate friendship into sound.

Blue Bendy - Motorbike PMVXEP10
After singer Arthur Nolan and guitarist Joe Nash had both independently decamped from Scunthorpe to London - with big dreams of success and slightly smaller realities of low-paid jobs and cramped housing - it would be a chance reunion in a pub that would begin Blue Bendy. Charles Harrison, who was living with Nolan, would be drafted in on guitar, whilst drummer Oscar Tebbutt was the next recruit – whether he had any prior drumming experience was by the by, he owned a motorbike. You’re hired. The group’s love of electronic music – be it the gurgling provocations of Aphex Twin or the hauntological high weird of Broadcast – meant that a synth player was essential. “I knew that for the music we wanted to make” explains Nolan, “we had to have sythensisers.” Olivia Morgan, a South London electronic musician, was recommended. “I went to the The Marquis of Granby pub with Arthur” says Morgan, “we sat down and he was like, do you want to join Blue Bendy? I said yeah, we played some songs in the attic of the Five Bells, and I said yeah again.” Morgan began working her electronic textures into the group’s sound.

When Blue Bendy independently released debut single ‘Suspension’ in 2019, it caught the attention of producer Margo Broom – Fat White Family, Goat Girl – who understood the potential in that single and the pop experimentalism that needed to be conjured from the six piece. 2021’s ‘International’ and ‘Glosso Babel’, the first products of their work with Broom, established Blue Bendy as one of the most exciting bands emerging from South London. On ‘Motorbike’, Blue Bendy have never sounded more explosive and in control at the same time. At once minimal; everything that you can hear is absolutely necessary, then at other turns they become dense and bright, tearing up all the reference points you thought you might have with a South London band.