Interview DIY Class of 2026: Silver Gore
Having started last year as a name known only to very few, Silver Gore ended it with an ever-growing cult following, a major label record deal, and a debut album in their crosshairs. And it’s not hard to see how; compelling, creative and utterly unconcerned by their peers, 2026 is theirs for the taking.
They may have only released their inaugural single a mere four months ago (and debuted their live show not long before), but already, Silver Gore have very little to prove. A meeting of minds between cult producer and co-songwriter to the stars Ethan P. Flynn (whose name peppers the liner notes of records by FKA twigs, Nia Archives, David Byrne and Jockstrap, to name a few) and vocal/drumming wunderkind Ava Gore, the pair have swiftly carved out a reputation for themselves as one of music’s most intriguing new prospects
In person, there’s a quiet confidence to the duo that’s undeniably well placed; when we sit down to chat this morning - after which they’re heading to a meeting with their label, Island, to share their near-complete debut album for the first time - Ava tongue-in-cheekily (but quite rightly) points out that Ethan is already a GRAMMY-nominated and double Mercury Prize-shortlisted writer, asserting that Silver Gore’s 2026 full-length will be “way better” than their recent ‘Dogs In Heaven’ EP.
And, if that project is anything to go by - which, remarkably, was just “every song we’d ever done” - making it a Mercury hattrick next year is far from out of the question for Ethan. Steeped in magical realism and floating in the liminal, Jockstrap-shaped space between experimental and earworm pop, Silver Gore’s output seems to exist in a lane entirely its own, where alternative doesn’t mean inaccessible, autobiography and character work converge (see their uncanny, dragon-dog sometime bandmate), and inspiration is overwhelmingly insular.
“Ava’s one of the most gifted songwriters - maybe THE most gifted songwriter - I’ve ever worked with, because it’s so intuitive and natural [to her],” Ethan nods, explaining how her relative inexperience has proved a fertile counterpoint to his seasoned self. (“That’s nice,” she beams at him). “I think I’ve always been conscious in everything I’ve done to not polish it too much. I hate music that sounds like nothing; when you do everything as good as it can be, it ends up just sounding like silence.”
“I think I’ve always been conscious in everything I’ve done to not polish it too much. I hate music that sounds like nothing.”
— Ethan P. Flynn
While they might not be influenced by any of their contemporaries per se, Ethan admits he does sometimes reach back into his extensive catalogue of unreleased material to refresh older ideas with the Silver Gore stamp - a process he views as “kind of like sampling”. It’s a metamorphic approach that speaks to the vitality of their work, which finds more freedom of expression in the mutable sensibilities of electronic music than it does the often more prescriptive structures of indie (a case in point being their recent reimagining of English Teacher’s lovelorn ballad ‘You Blister My Paint’ into what Ava calls “more of an assertive, reclaiming of the love story”).
“You’re more in contact with the whole spectrum of sounds,” says Ethan, citing Madonna’s ‘Ray Of Light’ and Britney’s ‘Blackout’ as prime examples of affecting, evocative electro-pop tracks. “I think what it is about electronic music for me is that it affects me in a physical way,” agrees Ava. “It really makes me want to dance, and then from there, the emotion comes out.”
Ethan considers: “I also like working with electronic music because I feel a bit let down by a lot of [it]. It feels like we’ve had big milestones and great albums [in the genre], but there’s never really been a singer-songwriter that’s used electronic music as well as singer-songwriters have used the guitar. When you’re making music with guitars, there’s been such great heights that have been achieved,” he pauses, citing Bowie, Dylan and The Beatles, “it’s hard to even justify doing it.” “Why bother?” nods Ava.
Where they are, though, there doesn’t seem to be any similar such ceiling to smash. Unshackled by comparisons and compelled by curiosity, Silver Gore are heading into 2026 with their gaze fixed firmly skyward.
‘Dogs In Heaven’ is out now via Island Records.
Records, etc at
As featured in the December 2025 / January 2026 issue of DIY, out now.
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