two blinks, i love you Releases New Single ‘my girl’ via Heist or Hit
Liverpool songwriter two blinks, i love you releases new single ‘my girl’ via Heist or Hit.
An aesthetic ode to NYC it pulls at the early 2000s alt-rock and folk output of the city. AKA Liam Brown, his structures lean on minimalist design philosophies; an example of prioritising only the essential. In this way, his music economically grants transit to those themes and sonic motifs that cut to the emotional core.
Taking a pilgrimage to New York late last year allowed Liam to live out his inner Fran Lebowitz fantasies. Cocooned in overpopulation, he found himself drunk & alone, singing the Human League at a karaoke bar after watching the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. The following morning, hungover and pairing a McGriddle with a black coffee he cut a figure of stillness while the iconography of the city shimmered all around him like fish scale. “I’ve always attached a lot of emotional weight to exploring ideas of feeling small and alone in a big city where there is so much energy and life.”
Alongside label Heist or Hit, it was deemed that in order to grasp at the atmosphere of the great Gotham, transplanting two blinks from the bedroom to the studio would be an important next step for the sound. More polish than spit. With Liam at the helm as producer, tracking took place at Nan’s House in Liverpool with Sophie Ellis engineering and mixing. “She facilitated and transferred all my creative decisions and ideas practically without any friction, which was super important to me. We worked rapidly, how I like to work, and it felt like there existed so much alchemy in our spontaneity.”
The clean, sharp edges of ‘my girl’ became the soundtrack to Liam’s New York trip, the milieu switching from the rapid-fire repetition of overcrowded lyrics to string motifs that lift up to the big blue like skyscrapers climbing for supremacy.
Lyrically, it explores the seeking of comfort in companionship of any form when feeling lonely; a theme that plays out in the albums of many early 00s New York bands. As he explains:
“It feels lyrically about leaning on someone you love, in good and bad ways. A love between two people that can be so far from each other in style, and this causing a fundamental rift. I think those feelings can ultimately make two people feel lonelier. The video reflects that – it is a kind of insular day in the life diary entry of my time in New York, about feeling a bit lost and aimless being essentially a tiny tiny fish in that massive pond of a city. I think even though there is so much going on in New York and the video, there’s a stillness too that I think has naturally weaved its way through the video because it’s so personal and intimate.”
Immediately encapsulating, as is the foundation for all two blinks, i love you creations. But the new single “my girl” opens up this new world, rhythmically pleasing and easy to quickly chant back, the latest track welcomes this imperitative connection and the hearty landscape is filled with hypnotic hooks and standout textures. The lyrics and the loop convey sincerity and add to the addictive nature of this expressive release. Weaving honesty into this affectionate cut, you can’t help but fall in love with the creative expression of this vital artist, another compelling composition.
two blinks, i love you springs from the prolific mind of Liverpool-based songwriter Liam Brown, previously known for his work as pizzagirl – where he built zany, aesthetic bedroom-pop worlds across two albums admired by VICE (Noisey), The Guardian, The FADER, PASTE, BBC 6Music and Radio 1, and more.
Liam emerged in this new guise with the austere but emotive debut single ‘i love you’, which heralded his debut project ep 1 – which also featured the singles ‘carnegie hall’, ‘birthday surprise’ and ‘loveseat’. Last October’s scuzzy exploration ‘sentiment’ provided a stylistic evolution and placeholder.
He quickly caught the attention of Pitchfork, The Independent, The Evening Standard, The Line of Best Fit, CLASH, DORK and more with a finely honed sound calling to mind the wistful off-piste ruminations of Alex G, Yo La Tengo, Elliott Smith, The Mouldy Peaches or Wilco.
two blinks, i love you embraces the charm of imperfection, and the plaintive beauty of not knowing everything. Rather than hiding behind any misdirection he leans into this, and exposes an honest picture of himself.
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