News

Ardyn step into their ‘Universe’ with debut EP

Listen to the brother-sister duo’s first work is due out via National Anthem.

12th November 2015

Every weekday, DIY’s new music know-it-all Neu brings you one essential new release to get obsessed with. Today’s Neu Pick comes from Ardyn.

It’s easy to go on about sibling connection when a group like Ardyn come along. When music is this tight-knit and easy-flowing, there’s a temptation to immediately attach that with some kind of familial telepathy. But there’s more to the brother-sister duo’s ‘Universe’ EP than mere interdependence.

Across four songs, the Gloucestershire newcomers step out with a gloomy take on pop that swerves from moody piano lines to sweeping instrumentation. ‘Help Me On My Way’ is a fierce and driven glimpse of what’s in their locker, while gorgeous ballad ‘Call Up’ announces Ardyn as future chart-botherers. It’s one of the best introductions in yonks.

DIY is streaming Ardyn’s debut EP below. They’ve also given their first interview, talking future plans and what it was like to work with XL’s in-house producer Rodaidh McDonald.

‘Universe’ is out 13th November via National Anthem - pre-order here.

Being brother and sister, you two have obviously known each other a long time - a lifetime in fact - but when did you first decide to start up a music project together?

It was never really planned. We’ve played and sung since we were children and it was just part of lives. We played our first proper gig when we were fifteen at a Battle of the Bands in Gloucester as part of the Underground Festival. We ended up winning that and meeting our current managers on the same weekend, which was great.

Gloucestershire’s a very beautiful part of the world, but it must be said, farms are more widespread than gig venues there. How did you get a-hold of music, and get into making it yourselves, growing up?

Our parents are quite musical, especially our father. Every summer holiday our dad would take one Beatles album with us. It would play on the car stereo for the entire holiday. ‘Revolver’ one year, then ‘White Album’, then ‘Abbey Road’. By the end of the summer, we’d know every song off by heart.He taught us the basics and recorded what we were writing from about six or seven years old. Our mum would often gently force us to play at family parties, which helped on the performing front. In the last few years we converted our garage into a music room where we write and practice, Rob really got into Logic and we started to record our own demos.

XL’s in-house deskman Rodaidh McDonald produced this EP. He’s worked on a bunch of stuff with people like The xx, and Sampha, too. What was he like to work with?

Working with Rodaidh was brilliant. It was our first time working with a producer in a proper studio (RAK). It was interesting to see how a producer works. We really liked that in the session, every half an hour or so, we would stop and play the song back full blast through the monitors. It really helped us hear what was working. The sound of the records Rodaidh has produced - The xx, Childhood, Lapsley, Daughter, LISS - is great and wefelt his productions would work for the songs we had written for the EP.

You’re headlining a show in Stroud at the end of this month. Rather than heading straight off to a big city, you’re keeping it local. Why is that?

We are really looking forward to playing big cities but it’s still early days and we’ve only done three shows as a full band so far. We wanted to keep it local because we have had a lot of support growing up here and feel that it’s the right choice for our first headline show - and some of friends will be playing as part of the gig.

What’s next on the horizon after ‘Universe’?

Definitely some more gigs in the New Year. We’re going to start work on our next EP. We’re feeling really good about this first step, and just want to keep the momentum now.

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