Influences: Outfit

Exploring new album 'Slowness'...

Outfit are continually surprising.

Finding themselves spread across two countries and three cities, the group utilised this to their advantage.

New album 'Slowness' is their boldest statement to date, a superbly broad, continually inspiring piece of work which introduces vital new influences.

Out now, the band have just unveiled the video for current single 'Framed'. "For us, 'Framed' encapsulates Outfit's identity and sound," they explain. "Our aim was to visually reflect the bittersweet melancholy of the track, exploring the idea of different 'versions' of a person."

A continually revolving ellipsis of new sounds and approaches, Outfit's method moves from classic songwriting to avant electronics and more.

Check out their Influences below.

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Talk Talk – 'I Believe In You'

Love the space on this album, and how every sound is imbued with so much emotion and feel. Apparently they used dozens of the world's best session players because they'd only let them play a song through twice so that it had a "first take" feel. That's a pretty ridiculously 80's attitude, but as a result the whole record sounds like it's taking shape in front of your very eyes. Amazing video too, I love how he gets the giggles at the end.

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Oneohtrix Point Never – 'Zebra'

The sound of a yoga CD skipping in the most wonderful way. 'R Plus Seven' was an album that I loved for its sprawling structures and for Daniel Lopatin's intuitive grasp of how to combine completely disparate sounds. He seems to have an innate understanding of the history of recorded sound which means he can pull off the most obscene leaps in sonic logic whilst keeping the listener completely in a world of his own.

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Joni Mitchell – 'My Old Man'

This song and the album 'Blue' really made me want to write a more emotive album, and this song particularly made me want to use piano. Joni has it all, the voice, the songwriting chops and she's an incredibly unique guitarist and pianist to boot. It's kind of unfathomable to me how someone could be so talented and not just implode.

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Judee Sill – 'The Kiss'

Again, a bit influence on me wanting to play the piano on the record. Judee is totally underrated and has a massively complex harmonic style, which can be difficult at first but upon repeated listens becomes completely essential. Her style is somewhere between bluegrass and Cole Porter, there's something deeply American about her songwriting, the blues is deeply engrained but it also has these very lush cinematic string arrangements which stop it becoming too earnest.

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Nina Simone – 'Feelings' (Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival)

Outfit will never ever come anywhere near close to music like this, and neither will 90% of acts. A truly unique performance, from someone who is known for her amazing voice but is just as jaw dropping on the piano. This clip is totally uncomfortable to watch but you can't take your eyes off her. Makes you realise how rarely you see something truly remarkable at a concert.

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Catch Outfit at the following shows:

September
8 Bristol Louisiana
9 Brighton The Hope
10 Birmingham Hare & Hounds
11 Nottingham Bodega
21 London Electrowerkz

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