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Robbie & Mona Share New Track ‘Fidelity’ + Sign To Spinny Nights

October 12, 2020
Image by Ellie Gray

Robbie & Mona

Dream-pop Duo Share New Track ‘Fidelity

Duo sign to Spinny Nights

Robbie & Mona twist into life from the celluloid film reels they seem to inhabit on ‘Fidelity’ – a hypnotic, eerie piece that swirls with lo-fi splendor. 

The track is the Bristol duo’s first release with Spinny Nights (Norman, Lynks, Park Motive), and seems both warm and unnerving – the waif-like vocals and syrupy synths shifting around constantly, snapshots of emotions coming into focus before being dragged under again. The track also features drums from Mig Schillace (Portishead, Pet Shimmers) and has seen them already gain plays from Gideon Coe on BBC Radio 6.

Fidelity felt like the perfect introduction to the project,” Mona explains of ‘Fidelity’. “It’s a silky, navy midnight blue sort of song, acting like a pair of moody sunglasses through which to see, hear and feel everything else to come.”

Robbie reveals: “Mona recorded this acapella alone in an empty house – a freeing voice stretch, stream of consciousness type thing. We didn’t mean for it to become a song but I sent it through a reel-to-reel and down tuned it multiple times which gradually disintegrated the audio. Everything in the song, other than the bass, guitar and drums, is taken from these crumbling acapella samples.”

The opening synth tone on Fidelity is enough to hypnotize you, but then with the vocal harmonies added to the mix Fidelity soon becomes one of the most alluring arrangements out there. The vast and visceral textures to this track exude a somewhat organic feel to them as Robbie & Mona manipulate their own electronic elements and continue to bring in more noise, more tweaks, and more harmonic notes, as they effortlessly weave these intricate dynamics into their outlook.

Robbie & Mona is the surreal creative outlet that couple-duo William Carkeet and Eleanor Gray have forged to create their scrap-book glitch pop; erratic and psychedelic dream-pop which subverts the indistinct haze that often plagues the genre. 

The project began with William offering to produce Eleanor’s second solo album – this quickly transcended into the beginning of Robbie & Mona. The duo experiment fearlessly with sonic textures and song structures, whilst still carrying the emotional weight of a Magic Radio ballad.

Both Robbie & Mona are also members of Bristol’s emo-indie collective Pet Shimmers, most recently back from supporting Alex G on his UK/EU tour.

Taking a more theatrical and minimalist approach to their live shows, Robbie & Mona focus heavily on visuals and atmosphere, rather than performing the songs with complete accuracy. Some sets have been pre recorded and played on vintage video equipment on stage, with the band watching amongst the crowd.

A small cohort of cherry picked live outings have led to multi-media shows with the likes of Sean Nicholas Savage, Holy Drug Couple, Purple Pilgrims and Oro Swimming Hour

https://www.facebook.com/robbieandmona

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