Who are they?
Name: Litany
Style: Freaky alt-pop.
Location: Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
The FADER's weekly column What Rules highlights our office's new obsessions.
Why should I listen?
I was introduced to Litany's "Bedroom" by my friend John, through its placement in my other friend Ben's very essential "groovin" Spotify playlist. It's the kind of song you know you're going to like within the first 10 seconds of listening to it — and then the chorus hits, and you know you're going to love it for the rest of your life. The song sounds like a Human League cut circa 1981 (those very chilly British lyrics!) that was freaked in 2018 by Jamie xx — how could you not love those steel drums? I can't believe it's not the Song of the Summer right now.
Litany is a U.K. duo made up of Jake Nicolaides, who handles production, and Beth Cornell, whose hushed vocals are addicting as heck. Their 2017 EP, called 4 Track EP, is a stunning little collection of alt-pop that features the aforementioned "Bedroom" and the hypnotizing "PS2." They released a cheery new single this summer called "Call On Me" that shows they have some emotional range. In the second verse, Cornell lets us know she's still a bit of a weirdo: "You can hit me with hadouken / Baby, we could play it all night (ooh yeah)." More of this, please!
Where should I start?