Atwood Journal’s personal Frederick Bloy – one half of the London-based unbiased artwork rock duo, Idiotwin – shares a quick, considerate reflection on the teachings discovered and views gained on the highway to independently releasing an album in 2025 – from the inventive course of to the advertising journey and past.
Stream: ‘Idiotwin’ LP – Idiotwin
A outstanding fear when creating artwork just isn’t a lot the method, or the potential tribulations of fame, or the ravaging realities of such aspirations.
I’ve heard it stated just a few occasions earlier than, with out with the ability to at present recall the creator, that the perfect situation is to have an viewers spend longer digesting your artwork, than it took you to make it.
This may be fairly tough.
Sure movies are postponed a number of occasions. Sure large-scale work are multi-year lengthy feats of endurance and refinement. However what of a music? Songwriting is troublesome to summarise inside a set metric. Sure compositions transfer via a number of demos and drafts. Then there’s the blending and mastering. And what of the conceptual window, the place lyrics and motifs coalesce and coerce earlier than the form of a music is even tangible?
For my band Idiotwin, the realisation of a full, debut LP has taken simply shy of two years, in case you begin measuring time from the band’s public existence and EP launch. It’s even longer in case you begin from the conceptual writing phases earlier than that. You can even return to after I was in secondary faculty, having written what’s now the LP’s opening observe at sixteen.
I wished to share my experiences as an unbiased musician having labored on, and now releasing a debut LP. I hope that, stripped from the file labels, the brokers, the European excursions, and the a whole bunch of 1000’s of likes on social media, such a perspective could be a refreshing one.
Whether or not or not this text helps tally up a listening time for the LP longer than it took to create is debatable, and never essentially my concern both. What does concern me, is my sharing with you the way it got here to be, how I felt about it earlier than, and I how I really feel about it now as we (on the time of writing) method its launch on the 21st March.
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The Writing Course of
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@duncan.critiques, a ludicrously voracious and impressively eloquent music-reviewer (my private favorite of the bunch), when reviewing Idiotwin’s EP, led with the tagline, ‘a high-budget puppet present with a mastermind pulling the strings.’
Other than being a glowing praise, I discovered the concept of an Idiotwin launch being perceived as ‘high-budget’ as intriguing. All of Idiotwin’s music has been recorded and produced between two homes in London, via a Focusrite Scarlett interface (the unbiased musician’s finest buddy) and, primarily, a USB Marantz microphone bought via Amazon. The costliest factor about Idiotwin’s music is, both, the amassed journey prices of two bandmates zipping throughout London for weekly rehearsals, or the oboe owned by one in every of its members.
Any phantasm of grand expense is probably going a results of the sound we wished to attain. As a duo, we discover ourselves pulling from a sprawling array of influences, so we are likely to genre-hop. This being stated, if I had been to choose any overarching genres, I’d go for artwork rock and chamber pop. These are genres that champion instrumentation, journey, and breadth of timbre and sonority. I feel with unbiased artists, the default place is a scruffiness or low-fidelity that permeates a handful of concise tracks. There are reams of cloud rap singles, lo-fi beats or hazy bed room pop EPs to exemplify this. There’s nothing fallacious with any of that, none of that music is lazy or artistically stunted – it’s merely that Idiotwin wished to sound, for need of higher description, massive and various.
We prioritise layers, is one thing I’ve realised. There’s by no means only one guitar – I purposefully wrote riffs on my electrical that burst, only for a second, to bolster the cacophony of noisy shoegaze moments, or spindly fingerstyle arpeggios on an acoustic (with far too excessive an motion) to ripple as gossamer counter-melodies. Extra noticeably, Idiotwin are blessed to have two members who’re comfy singing. We take immense pleasure over the stacked vocal harmonies that shortly grew to become integral to our private sound.
Successfully, what I’m making an attempt to reveal is that ‘big-budget’ music could be created out of meagre provisions. At no level was a studio rented, as an example. Probably the greatest items of music recommendation I’ve ever acquired is how essential it’s it ‘write one thing you’d get pleasure from listening to’. So long as you by no means lose the power to evaluate your individual music towards such a litmus check, any high quality of sound, I consider, is achievable. Undoubtedly, it would imply our subsequent launch takes a few years, as an alternative of 5 months, however will probably be price it.
I’d wish to make two extra quick factors on the writing of unbiased music. Firstly, the size of time it takes to truly make a music. What mustn’t ever be undermined if working in a partnership, or in tandem with a gaggle of any measurement, is communication and belief. Each of Idiotwin’s members have recognized one another for years. I do know that Chris may be very content material to attend for me to ship over the skeleton of a music I’ve taken a month to ideate – he trusts me sufficient to depart me to work and replace him accordingly. With no strain from a file label, this permits us to write down with liberation. Songs can materialise and evolve unforced, unfettered. A music like ‘And Then There Was The Time it Got here Down in Droves’ took a while to assemble. ‘Happiest within the Room (The Birthday Music)’ was written in a single evening. There is no such thing as a sense of schedule by any means, apart from any strain you could exert on your self.
Secondly, I’m not a producer, nor do I do know a lot in any respect about manufacturing. I’m persistently indebted to Chris not only for his functionality as a producer, however ingenious experience and creativity. Our course of has fairly often been that I’ll write the music, ship all of the components over, present steering on the ultimate sound, after which just like the shifting of tectonic plates, get up one morning to find that issues round me have remodeled. Once more, no extreme funding was splurged on mixing and mastering, however it’s uncooked conscientiousness and pragmatism that makes the music sound good. I’ve found via this course of that what’s far more helpful than talking in riddles about how I envisage songs sounding, is offering reference tracks. That may be a very powerful lesson I’ve discovered.
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The Publicity Course of
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I feel each unbiased musician would agree with this – the writing of the music is the enjoyable half.
The value of a musician is the competence with which they compose melody, order concord, and enchantment to common expertise via their lyrics. Advertising, self-promotion and networking aren’t as innate a skillset, nor are they past-times essentially revelled in. I might spend a really very long time lamenting the hindrances of social media and streaming platforms for the musician that craves recognition, or probably the most nominal business nudge. Nonetheless, I feel most individuals have some grasp on how untenably difficult it’s to rival the giants of business pop, nepotism, and the like. I don’t need to discuss this. It could make for a draining write, and a suffocating learn. Impartial musicians create merely for the love of creation. If an Idiotwin music can hook up with anyone particular person that isn’t obliged to me in any means, so far as I’m involved, I’m successful.
Nonetheless, I’d by no means create for a vacuum. I’ve labored very exhausting to construct a community for Idiotwin, and I feel we’re constructing relationships as dependable, but in addition impressively distinctive musicians. Because of this, we’re attaining common gigs throughout London (I’d implore you to have a look at my ‘Sounds From the Floor’ sequence, which discusses unbiased music throughout the town, from the attitude of a performer). I feel gigs are a should for any musician. To any artist studying this, I’d encourage you to decide to the telephone calls, emails, and legwork of assembly individuals and visiting venues. Promoters and bookers just do need to placed on exhibits, and in case you can assure an viewers on your slot, you’re in. So long as you’re amicable thereafter, you may even be invited again.
That is how, in brief, Idiotwin finds itself inexorably returning to The Spice of Life in Soho. It was there that I advised an viewers for the primary time concerning the launch of our LP. They cheered. They had been excited for us. Individuals got here up afterwards and requested me to remind them of the date. Strangers, with no prior attachment to Idiotwin had been excited by the prospect of an Idiotwin LP.
Is that as a result of we’re distinctive dwell? Perhaps, I couldn’t say. I feel it’s extra so the truth that individuals who attend unbiased music exhibits are, on common, there solely for unbiased music. These audiences will perceive the trepidation of a smaller act trying to accrue engagement for his or her artwork that they’ve labored doggedly at. My level is that help is on the market, in case you search for it.
We’ve got additionally tried the social media ‘factor’. We’ve made a number of posts teasing the LP launch date as if some clandestine, acroamatic cult deadline. I completely benefit from the content material we’ve produced – I feel it’s well-made. To at the present time I haven’t been in a position to crack the algorithms, so haven’t any profound perception on how one can get trending with startling rapidity, but when it seems to be good, and is launched often, you can’t do far more. On the very least, I’m positive it’s given our shut pals a chuckle.
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Independent music could be daunting.
Like a baby endeavouring to stroll, one step may be manageable, however a second one, not less than at the beginning, is an exertion too far. A staircase to a toddler should appear like Kilimanjaro. For the artists recording closing fingerstyle arpeggios of their bed room, the stratospheric fame of a Glastonbury stage can’t be allowed to taunt you. It’s a noble objective, however an LP launch is a glowing achievement that will get you nearer to that than earlier than.
So, I’d ask each unbiased artist, merely, to maintain creating. Present your family and friends what you may have made with unabashed pleasure. Rejoice your work – lose your self on the stage of a fifty-capacity venue for half an hour, schedule a listening get together for an EP; always remember why you’re keen on the factor you do.
That love is why you began, and that love pushes us to maintain making an attempt, to maintain creating. It will get mountaineers to the highest of Kilimanjaro, however not with out beginning on the backside first.
The Idiotwin LP launched on 21st March 2025 and is out now! Give it a hear in case you’re ; I feel it’s fairly good.
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:: stream/buy Idiotwin right here ::
:: join with Idiotwin right here ::
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Stream: ‘Idiotwin’ LP – Idiotwin
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an album by Idiotwin
