- 2023-08-02
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MUSIC
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Oslo Twins Releases Debut EP “Back To Nothing”
Bristol-based dream-pop band Oslo Twins, consisting of Claudia Vulliamy (vocals) and Eric Davies (guitar), Ed Lyness (keyboards), Will Snelling (bass) and Luke Brown (drums), released their highly-anticipated debut EP “Back To Nothing” on July 28, 2023 via Fascination Street Records.
The EP comprises 4-track, written by Claudia Vulliamy and Eric Davies, and produced by Ali Chant.
The band wrote the songs during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
The EP is subtly influenced by dance, industrial and lo-fi music of the 80s and 90s, adorned with distinctive, hooky pop melodies.
The band guitarist Eric Davies said of the EP, “We wrote all these tracks in lockdown, confined to our bedrooms and wanting to be anywhere but there.”- The band explained track-by-track for the EP.
“Miss Yesterday”
Claudia Vulliamy: “It's a song of joyful nostalgia, filled with hope and affection, and perhaps a darker hint of 'Let's just run away from everything, there's nothing but us, f**k it all'. When I was writing my part of the Miss Yesterday lyrics, I watched a clip from The Rocky Horror Picture Show of Tim Curry performing 'I'm Going Home'. His character is a literal alien - and he's completely insane but that's besides the point - longing for familiarity, and he sings (with wet hair and smudged makeup, in a corset and fishnets) 'I've seen blue skies through the tears in my eyes, and I realise, I'm going home.' For some reason that lingered in my head and made its way into the tone of the song. Also, the chorus lyric 'No one sees the world like we do' is based on a similar phrase that Robert Mapplethorpe said to Patti Smith, according to Smith's memoir Just Kids.”
Eric Davies: “'Miss Yesterday' is ultimately our stab at a pop song, but the lyrics hint at a complex feeling of longing and general confusion that we all experienced around that time. I think ultimately all the songs come from a place of alienation, with 'Breath' being the centre of this. Weirdly the track felt nostalgic from the off, even when writing it - hence the name. It all happened really quickly.” -
“Back To Nothing”
Eric Davies: “I wouldn't say it was about longing, but the stage after. I wrote the lyrics by the River Avon in Bristol on a warm evening. It's a wistful, reflective song.”
“Breath”
Claudia Vulliamy: “For us, Breath is a very nocturnal song about feeling cut off from the world. We wanted the video to have a moody, Edward-Hopper-style metropolitan ambience. I love how Max has responded to the track. Think Serial Experiments Lain meets Patrick Melrose.”
Eric Davies: “'Breath' is a song about unrequited love, an attempt to embody how it feels. But I wrote it after having a panic attack, so it's about that as well - an expression of panic in the style of a love song. There's a sort of dry irony about it. I wanted the beat and general feel of the song to sound uneasy and slightly out of control. I think creating the track was definitely a turning point for me.”
“Basilica”
Claudia Vulliamy: “I like to explore the place where decadence flirts with the divine. I wrote 'Basilica' while thinking about San Miniato al Monte, a church I visited in Florence a few years ago, where the floor and walls are decorated with intricate mediaeval images in black-and-white marble, including demonic-looking little creatures and a zodiac wheel on the floor. The Gregorian chants echoed beautifully, and I found myself imagining a sort of 'holy rave', where you could lose yourself in the ambiguous, trippy Christo-pagan aesthetics - like some really wacky Berlin club.”
Photo by downtheupsfilm
Background photo by Niamh Martha - source : Apple Music
