Sibling stay in control on ‘Knights’

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 Sibling. Don’t let that name fool you: LA-based Canadian duo Sibling aren’t actually siblings. They’re Elodie Tomlinson and Bryan Osuszek, and they make sheer, crystalline synth-pop. That doesn’t mean that the name doesn’t hold some strange truth in it though. When Elodie and Bryan first met, they immediately felt a sort of synergy after exploring the lore of astrological connections. In other words, they were on the same page from the beginning, which eventually led to them releasing their first, self-titled EP in 2016. Now they’re back with a new single, ‘Knights’, and it’s got a pretty relatable mantra. “Sometimes people suck”, says Elodie, “things feel out of control and you just want to escape for a night. That’s what this song’s about. I wrote the lyrics during what felt like one of the longest weeks ever, when I just wanted to check out and have a good time”. Those feelings are distilled into ‘Knights’, where Elodie sings about being “always caught up in something” in soulful tones over muted, glitch-ridden electronica and skittering percussion, energetic synth pulses in the chorus suggesting a light at the end of the tunnel. Deceptively complex despite its restraint, this is a slice of alt-pop that it’s easy to escape into. Listen to the first spin of ‘Knights’ below.