London Grammar set for big things
Rising to notoriety thanks to a collaboration with this year's success story Disclosure, London Grammar are hotly touted to follow in the footsteps of Florence and the Machine and the xx.
Like those bands, they combine empowering voices with stark guitar melodies and electronic beats.
While the trio comprising vocalist/pianist Hannah Reid, production prodigy Dot Major and guitarist Dan Rothman might seem like they've only been around since the release of their debut EP Metal & Dust earlier this year, they spent four years writing and recording after forming at Nottingham University.
"Initially we were playing pubs and clubs in London," Rothman recalls. "Things got a bit more serious when we got spotted by an A&R man. From that point we kind of stopped playing live to write and record, and we only really started playing live again at the beginning of this year."
During their time in the lab, London Grammar wrote and recorded both Metal & Dust and debut album If You Wait. They also managed to find a guest spot on Help Me Lose My Mind, the closing track on Disclosure's much-loved album, Settle.
Rothman said the band was courted by the house music duo's manager when both acts were starting out.
"We were looking for a manager and we came across these two guys who happened to manage this tiny DJ act called Disclosure," Rothman says.
"They were unknown at the time and we really liked them and we kind of got on very well with them.
"We stayed in contact with them and about six or seven months ago they asked if Hannah would like to sing on one of their tracks. And that's how it came about because we knew the manager and they loved what we did."
Australia will get a chance to love what London Grammar do when they tour early next year, and Rothman says the band's live show is like no other.
"It's kind of a weird set-up," he explains.
"It's becoming more (of) a common thing with a lot of people mixing electronic music with acoustic stuff but we do it quite differently."
