You’re Early: 2:54

“One song doesn’t make a band..."

If you’ve ever cranked ‘A History Of Bad Men’ by The Melvins up to the megawatts and let its potency fill your musical receptacles, then you’re officially qualified for categorisation as ‘one who feels the music’. In this category, you’re in good company with, amongst others, the ladies of rockin’ Bristolian two piece 2:54. Named after their favourite drum lick, which comes at the point – two minutes and fifty four seconds in – where the aforementioned Melvins tune slips a disc in the song’s tempo and drops into some long, low, mind-bending guitar. Hence, their decision to nominally associate themselves with this moment serves as a standing reminder that the duo are no strangers to feeling it in their bones. In fact, some of Collette’s most sultry tones come on ‘Scarlet’ when delivering the lines: “Lover, she said, you put the beat in my bones, it’s all I hear in my head…”

Sisters Hannah and Collette Thurlow’s shared lineage provides a little insight into their infatuation with music. “We were born in Ireland and raised in Bristol from a young age,” Collette tells Clash. “Bristol’s just an incredible place to grow up; there are loads of independent record stores and book shops… It felt like a music city, so it was great place to grow up.” At 18, the sisters then both moved to London for university, and in their own words, “never left.”

Shuffling around in their respective seats in a quiet Stoke Newington boozer, the duo explain a little more about how they came to making music together. “Music’s always been an on-going thing since we were young, playing together, so it’s always been our passion, alongside those things.” Hannah explains. “In my mid-teens I started playing guitar.” She taught Collette too, signalling the beginning of the girls’ exploration of the music they could create together.

It all came together about 3 years ago, Collette explains: “We wrote ‘Creeping’ and put it online. We hadn’t been making music like that at all, and then one day it was great; I just had the house to myself made the song. We just thought, ‘let’s stick it up!’ Just because we really liked it and that was it.” It’s that simple. It just, sort of, happened. ‘Creeping’ was born from a perfectly organic period of musical experimentation that the sisters were going through, and began to spread like wildfire on the internet, getting attention from all the right people. At this point, Collette and Hannah only had bare bones of other songs, so it’s fair to treat the appearance of ‘Creeping’ as a sort of ‘year zero’ for 2:54. From there, the girls really began to hit their stride, but in their progression they’ve been wary of the dangers of diving into things before they’re ready.

“One song doesn’t make a band. It was amazing that it got picked up and people liked it but we certainly, from that point on, wanted to take our time to develop properly as a band,” Collette unfolds their rationale. “Now, three years on, we haven’t rushed anything in that sense.” The results speak for themselves, and with a little time behind them 2:54 have moved on from stars of the bottomless online talent show to become a band with real direction and a headline tour under their belts. Along the way, they’ve stuck with the same reliable quality filter, Hannah explains: “If we’re happy with it then we’ll let it loose.” Again, simple, but all the clues point to intuition being a good way to go for the Thurlow sisters.

Musically, Collette’s melodies come draped over a gloomy, locomotive lo-fi trudge which holds a smattering of accessory twinkles. The component parts of the songs seemingly swirl in and out of the foreground as the music elevates and lowers the songs through their different gears. It’s a heady combination when the band’s dark, slightly muddy sound comes together with the beautiful vocal tension in Collette’s voice; a voice which has the ability to go from a breathy gasp to a strong, resonant vocal, according to the desired effect.

2:54 – Creeping

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It’s all very well having the songs, though, but in order to play live, the tight-knit pair needed some help. “We’d never wanted to play as a duo live. We always wanted it to be a full band and have that full sound.” Collette emphasises further how things just seem to fall into place for 2:54: “We were just so lucky to have met the boys, we had one rehearsal with them and that was it, it just clicked, just felt so natural. It’s one thing they’re incredibly talented musicians, but also friends, y’know – that’s rare.” The sentiment is echoed by Hannah: “It just seemed to work when the four of us were in a room together.”

So without having to search too long or hard for the final parts of the puzzle, 2:54 were able to take to the road. Now just back from their first headline tour, Hannah’s able to impart a few anecdotes about finally finding the optimum position to sleep in the van, and tells us a little about the experience. “We’re pretty tired from a two week stretch, but it’s just been great to get out there and see people who are into the band. Getting to play longer sets and getting to explore more songs.” Collette picks up where Hannah finished, “It’s a completely new experience and a bit of a confidence booster getting to play to people who had specifically come to see us.”

The conversation moves on to their debut album. Unsuspectingly, in reflecting on the songwriting that features on the album, Collette hits the nail on the head: “It’s just a natural process.” She begins. “I guess we’d have to try and unpick our sisterhood in order to pinpoint anything. I think it’s just intuitive and instinctive and there’s nothing pre-conceived – ideas-wise, or thematically – it’s just making music. It’s a natural thing. Hannah’s compelled to write that bit of music and I’m inspired by that to write the melodies. I guess we haven’t done too much intellectualising it…”

Probably best not to. Those who feel the music can afford themselves the luxury of overlooking some of the thinking, at least until they’re a few albums deep.

Words by Jim Piling

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Debut album ‘2:54’ is out now.

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