The buzzy electro-pop collective have emerged from the shadows to claim their place on the Mercury shortlist
Mercury nominees: East India Youth
Mercury nominees: Bombay Bicycle Club
Mercury nominees: Anna Calvi
Mercury nominees: Damon Albarn
Who? Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland went to admirable lengths to conceal their identity initially with a Google-unfriendly name, they hired a host of breakdancers to frequent their first few videos; they gave phone-only interviews answering only to T and J (with the anonymity veil dropping slightly here and there) and performed in front of a cloud of smoke (to varying degrees of mystery). Given that its the age of the internet, their identity was rumbled eventually, and since then, their trajectory has been tainted unfairly by the fact that their back story isnt quite as romantic or exotic as some had imagined.
As it turns out, the two men lurking behind that warped, falsetto funk and TV On the Radio moodiness were formerly indie band Born Blonde, and pupils at Latymer Upper School (an affluent west London private school) who signed to Mercury Records in 2010. Now signed to XL, Josh and Tom claim to operate as an artistic collective rather than a straightforward band.
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by Guardian music via Electronic music | The Guardian
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