Ardyn are a folk-pop duo from Stroud, Gloucestershire comprised of 20-year-old twins Rob and Katy Pearson. They make emotive, intelligent music that belies their age, often detailed with lyrics inspired by nature. The siblings have enjoyed airplay from the likes of BBC Radio 6 Music's Lauren Laverne and BBC Radio 1's Huw Stephens. Last November, they supported Wild Beasts on their full UK tour.
The self-taught musicians – who between them play guitar, bass, piano and drums – started writing songs together in their early teens. When they were 15, they sent a track (called A Song) to BBC Introducing in the West and were subsequently invited to play the Introducing stage at Gloucester's Underground Festival. They were also asked to play the festival's battle of the bands competition to open the main stage.
"We just enjoyed [playing music] for fun and we never really took it seriously until we shared our music," Katy says. "Suddenly, someone from outside of our family unit said 'oh you're quite good.' The battle of the bands was our first ever gig and we ended up winning it."
The siblings were spotted by their current manager, George Shepherd, at Underground Festival. "We were very young but we were very lucky to meet a really good management team who've left us to it for the last four years to really get to know who we are as musicians," Katy adds.
Their debut EP Universe was released via London-based indie label National Anthem (Haim, Chvrches) in November 2015, produced by indie label giant XL Recordings’ go-to man Rodaidh McDonald (credits include The xx, King Krule, Sampha). The Valley EP was released via Brixton-based independent label Aesop last July.
Ardyn make strikingly melodic pop music, frequently driven by frilly folk guitar lines, crystalline glockenspiels and poignant piano chords. There's an ethereal quality to Katy's quivering husk, complemented by her brother's warm backing vocals. A beautiful gloom permeates their music, lifted by soaring choral harmonies, meandering bass grooves and epic crescendos.
The Beatles, Kate Bush and Coldplay are the band's main inspiration, the latter of which Katy is quick to defend as "the best band ever". "They have such good songs," she says, "but people think it's cool to hate them."
Rob says: "I really like Beach House, Katy does too, and we've both recently really got into Interpol. They're a big inspiration for us at the moment."
Katy thinks their music is quite hard to define but says it "always has quite a melancholy undertone." Rob calls it "melancholic pop".
Ardyn's The Valley EP is out now
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