Lately we’ve often written about music that feels appropriate for this godforsaken shitcunt of a year we’re all struggling to endure. So when word of 0171‘s forthcoming EP Change Nothing hits our hearts with this type of description behind it, well, we fall in line pretty easily: “Born out of frustration, the new EP explores feelings of stasis, the struggle between clinging on to what brings you down, and ultimately just letting go.”
Hey, sold.
But beyond that basic transaction, what makes the London-based synth-pop duo of producers/singers Joe Bedell-Brill and Georgie Hoare a stellar deal is their seismic new single “Photograph,” which takes a skewered approach to alt-pop and flips it through 0171’s futuristic, tech-warped filter. And if we’ve ever needed practice in letting things, it’s pretty much right now.
“Photograph is inspired by looking at a photo of an ex,” 0171 state. “A photo that records a moment when everything seemed perfect, but now it’s a lie, and it makes you feel strange, like you can’t really remember who you were in that photo, when you loved that person. Like a life that never happened. We’ve all picked up old photos like that we find in our bedroom, that make you sit down and feel sad for a time that is lost, even if you don’t regret the relationship ending. I’m [Bedell-Brill] definitely someone who spends a lot of time thinking about my past, and the feelings that I’ll never get back. Georgie’s there in this song to tell me to get over it FFS.”
What we wont get over, at least until depression takes back hold of our lives (we’re trying to let go, we promise), is this track. Immerse yourself in it below, and take note: 0171’s Change Nothing EP is out August 14.