two blinks, i love you

“SELECTS” Pitchfork 

“SPOTLIGHT ON…” The Independent (Q&A)

“cleverly written lyrics, soft vocals and light guitar riffs” The Evening Standard 

“high-stakes vulnerability” The Line of Best Fit

“atmospheric and intoxicating” CLASH Magazine 

“a more mature turn musically” DORK Magazine 

two blinks, i love you releases new single ‘birthday surprise’ today ahead of debut EP - the aptly titled ep 1 - which is out June 2nd  via Heist or Hit. 

two blinks, i love you is the new project from Liverpool-based songwriter Liam Brown, best 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.  

At the end of last year he emerged in this new guise with the austere but emotive debut single ‘i love you’, followed by February’s ‘carnegie hall’ - and quickly caught the attention of Pitchfork, The Independent, The Evening Standard, The Line of Best Fit, CLASH, DORK, Atwood Magazine and more. 

The finely honed sound calls to mind the wistful off-piste ruminations of Alex G, Yo La Tengo, Elliott Smith, The Mouldy Peaches or Wilco. In a similar vein to these inspirations, Liam aims to marry raw, rootsy elements with a subtle, compelling production glean. It’s a method especially present on the new single, as he explains:   

“’birthday surprise’ is a tiny detour on the overall palette of this EP, it’s slightly more direct and introduces a few more electronic sounds than the last two singles. I still wanted to keep the sound organic and natural so as to not veer off into a synthetic sound and I’m really happy with the way it came together trying to tow the line with those two worlds :)” 

It’s also apparent in the low-key lyric video released with the track - a creepy, droll AI-nightmare visual that acts as a pastiche of the boom in auto-generated art and media which blurs the entry and exit points for human artisan touch. 

In starting this project Liam has moved on from the pizzagirl moniker feeling he didn't identify with it any longer. 

Whilst he looks back on it with fondness, being in his late teens when it launched, and releasing and performing songs written even earlier, it reflected a youthful appetite for aping trending subcultures as costumes and characters for semi-fictionalised stories. A world of memes, shitposts and maximalism deflecting away from his own personality. 

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.

“The name has a particular significance to a passing in my life and a positive memory that was attached to that person” shares Liam.  

It’s the sound of introspection. Songs recorded in the afterburn of a late-night television binge, mics pressed too close to the instruments so that each twitch and scrape is crystalized. Detail-rich idiosyncrasies inform the heart of the lyrics, which shine with vulnerability.  

Pulling at the threads of early 2000s alt-rock and folk, he leans into the minimalist design philosophies of the New York subway system and the Helvetica font; examples of prioritising only the essential. In this way, the songs economically grant transit to lyrics that cut to the emotional core. 

ep 1 will be the first full project from two blinks, i love you out June 2nd via Heist or Hit - new single ‘birthday surprise’ trails this today.