Hi! What was the original spark that encouraged you to start creating music together?
Pob: It was 2006, I had been in an indie guitar band but was a little sick of late mid-week pub gigs the other side of London. I wanted to spend more time in the studio, being able to craft music that was electronic, synth heavy and indie-pop. I created a few demos but I’m no lead singer and it wasn’t really going anywhere. Then I produced a song for a mutual friend of ours with Marion on vocals. Although we’d known each other for a few years it was the first time I’d heard her sing. I fell in love with her voice and asked her to sing some of the songs I had demo’d and it kind of went from there.
Congrats on the release of ‘Never Twice the Same Colour’, the album sounds great. What was the inspiration behind it?
Marion: Thanks! I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved with this album. Pob’s forever trying out a new riff on the guitar and I find it hard to hear a tune without singing a harmony – we must be impossible to live with! During the first COVID lockdown, the song “Hanging for the bang” started to take shape and for the first time in a few years I felt the buzz and I wanted to share it.
Pob: It started with simply having the time to make something. I was between jobs in 2019 and had some decent time to spend writing and recording for the first time in a while. When it started we weren’t considering gigging which gave us quite a bit of creative freedom, but also a challenging lack of constraints. The demos for the album have varied from quiet acoustic folk songs, synth heavy electro pop, fast indie rock and most things in between. I think we probably still have a bit of an identity crisis! Lockdown inspired a lot, directly or indirectly. Hanging for the Bang being the most overt. Sound-wise, a few songs on the album were inspired by hearing a song on the radio/spotify and thinking “wow, I wonder if we could do something like that!”. I love Phoebe Bridgers Punisher, and the arrangement and orchestration on “Someone from There” was inspired by Kyoto.
What’s your favorite track on the album and why?
Pob: A Pair of Keys. The goal with the sound was “if Sparky’s Magic Piano did The Beach Boys”. I like the dark lyrics and the juxtaposition with the laid back 12 string riff. It also has more time signatures than any song deserves, but at the same time doesn’t lose its flow.
Marion: I have a different favourite depending on my mood. I adore the cello solo in “As good as it gets”, “Albie I know” has my favourite sing-along chorus, “Someone from there” and “Hanging for the bang” can both tug on my heart strings but for setting a mood and taking me to another world it has to be “Colette”.
Your music interweaves so many different styles and sounds. If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
Pob: I’d love to work with Mark Ronson – or at least be a fly on the wall on some of his recording sessions. Just to see how he works and creates such energy in his recordings. I’m not a fan of my own voice and would love to collaborate with a strong male vocalist too. I’ve always loved the sound of Michael Stipe, I’d love to hear him harmonising with Marion!
What’s been your favorite musical experience to date?
Pob: Recording this album has been an amazing experience. It’s been tough at times, I tend to work alone for a lot of the time and quite frequently get quite a way through a song before realising (or being told!) it’s not going to work for Marion (there’s a whole other album hanging around of synth pop and some heavier, faster songs). But it’s also been so rewarding creating these complex, rich songs from our home that have generally turned out pretty close to how I imagined them when starting writing.
You are also based in a small town Hanwell, United Kingdom. Can you tell us how the music scene there has inspired your sound at all?
Pob: Hanwell has a surprisingly thriving music scene given its size and relative obscurity. It’s actually the town where Jim Marshall had his first amplifier shop and many of the big bands of the day used to rehearse and gig here (The Who, Led Zepellin, Jimi Hendrix). There’s an annual music festival called the Hanwell Hootie held in Jim Marshall’s memory. It’s a brilliant day where the local pubs and parks give up their space to celebrate loud guitar music. We had just recorded Last Supper before the festival this year and at that time it was quite a slow, acoustic track with a kind of swing beat. It was dancing to one of the great young energetic bands at the Hootie that made me decide we didn’t have enough fast upbeat songs on the album so that mix got binned for a new version you hear on the album.
If you could perform at any venue in the world, where would it be and why?
Pob: In my dreams… when we have a full band and some big hits, Glastonbury Pyramid Stage. It’s so iconic and the atmosphere’s so unique and other worldly – the smells, the noise, the views and the festival crowd. Until then a cosy pub venue with an enthusiastic crowd can’t be beaten!
Marion: For me it has to be the Round House in Camden. We’ve seen some great events there. Inspiring gigs from Fleet Foxes, Divine Comedy… and despite being large it has an intimate feel and I’ll never forget seeing the BBC Radiophonic workshop creating out of this world sounds from vintage synthesisers.
And finally, what’s next for you? Is there more music or any live shows on the way?
Pob: We are going to do some live shows. But the album is just to the two of us and most of the songs aren’t easily performable with two people – we don’t have enough hands between us! So we’re just starting rehearsals with a band at the moment… watch this space! There will be more music on the way, I’d love to release a few of the tracks that remain half finished from album sessions as singles. As for the next album, given how long it’s taken for album two, we have another 15 years to make the next one right?
