[ he/him ]
city: Liverpool“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
November 22nd - Liverpool songwriter two blinks, i love you - AKA Liam Brown - releases ep 2 today via Heist or Hit.
An aesthetic ode to NYC the new EP pulls at the early 2000s alt-rock and folk output of the city, reflecting on love and loss in a way that’s more direct than Liam anticipated:
“ep 2” as a whole is combing through a lot of different feelings over the past year. Some of the songs on here are quite retrospective about loss. It presents itself in different ways that I didn’t even recognise until listening to them back; at the time I thought it was hidden in lots of subtext but in actuality it wasn’t.”
two blinks’ 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.
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.”
Whilst the level of polish is increased in the sound - it still centres on coarse human emotion:
“I always love how direct and charming a plain and simple love song can be, not particularly the most poetic or the most dramatic by any means, but speaking of the smaller insignificant things and the idiosyncrasies of moments unique to your experience with love and everything surrounding that, whether that be friendship, the city you live in, or the city you visit for a week.”
ep 2 closes a second exploratory chapter for Liam - pillars upon which he’s set to build on in 2025.
ABOUT two blinks, i love you
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.
out on December 18, 2024
via Heist Or Hit Records
out on November 20, 2024
via Heist Or Hit Records
out on October 23, 2024
via Heist Or Hit Records
out on September 25, 2024
via Heist Or Hit Records
out on August 28, 2024
via Heist Or Hit Records
out on December 20, 2023
via Heist Or Hit Records