The duo Bicep -
Dan Medhurst
Isles
, the second album by London duo Bicep, will be released on January 22.
The album is a mix of inspirations drawn from their lives on two islands, Northern Ireland and Great Britain, Belfast and London.
These two like thinking in pairs, by opposing poles, the contrasts that arise from two opposing elements.
Bicep, the London duo from Belfast, formed by Matthew McBriar and Andrew Ferguson, realized over time that there was another couple in their collaboration.
That of two islands, Great Britain and Ireland, which nourished
Isles
, their second album which leaves this January 22 on Ninja Tunes, mixture of electro planing and energetic rhythms.
“The title of the album is a reference to the fact that Matt and I both grew up on an island, first Ireland and then Great Britain.
The album is very influenced by the music of these places: in Ireland the music is very energetic and more choral, the music in London is more introspective ”, explains Andy to
20 Minutes
.
Belfast, the Shine and underground culture
Belfast first, therefore, gave Bicep vitamin C and frenzied rhythms.
It is in the capital of Northern Ireland that Matt discovers by chance a musician who will make him fall into the electro: Aphex Twin.
“My girlfriend accidentally bought
Analogue Bubblebath Vol.
3.
She went to a store and brought this back, I was 16 I think, and every night I listened to this and said to myself “this is really alien music”, and it still is. one of my favorite EP ”.
It was at the Shine, then, the city's techno temple, that they had their first clashes with electronic music.
At 16, they arrive in this club with its impressive sound system.
Laurent Garnier plays there, 2,000 people dance trans: it's the slap.
“It hooked me right away,” Andy says.
It took over me and then you realize that the people around you don't even notice what it does to you!
"
The city is also marked by a very strong underground culture, which has developed in opposition to a very religious and conservative population.
To resist the ambient climate, we play Gothic, punk, techno ... We find this rhythmic intensity in Isles sur
X,
or on a song like
Saku
for example, where we hear beats from footwork, a music born in the streets of Chicago.
In London, discoveries and the FeelMyBicep blog
After Belfast, direction London, where the duo's palette will be enriched with multiple sounds.
“In London, there is a huge garage and jungle scene, that didn't exist too much in Belfast, which was more electro and techno,” explains Matt.
These contrasts and multiple influences are felt in many pieces, such as the superb
Apricots
, which mixes samples of traditional Malawian singers and the voices of a Bulgarian choir, all over a layer of aerial sound.
Before serving us these precipitates of influences on a plateau of clouds, Bicep practiced via a blog launched in 2008: FeelMyBicep, which they kept for 10 years.
They introduced listeners in search of new things to italo-disco, new wave, rock from the 1990s, and much more.
“We played music that sometimes had nothing to do with each other,” says Andy.
“We spent hours in record stores to find music that no one had.
It's become an addiction, almost, ”adds Matt.
Launched as a sort of forum for simply sharing music with their friends, the FeelMyBicep blog reaches 100,000 listeners per month in less than a year.
The blog is no longer, but the duo have kept this habit of sharing music with the whole world through a Spotify playlist.
FeelMyBicep has also become a monthly show on Apple Music.
To readers of 20 Minutes eager for discoveries, Bicep advises you to listen to DjRUM, Clark, Flying lotus, Tom VR, Kuedo or even Barker.
We advise you above all, if you haven't already done so, to take a dip in the many islets of Isles, and get lost there.
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