After almost two years away, the return of Aquilo with ‘Sober’ last month has seen the track gain over 1 million streams across DSPs and boosted their Spotify listeners to over 1.8 million per month. Now the Lake District duo accelerate the next stage in a career that has accumulated over 250 million streams by sharing the new track ‘Just Asking’. Both tracks feature on their eagerly anticipated new EP, also titled ‘Sober’, which follows on June 3rd via AWAL.
With emotive strings, sweeping harmonies and an expressive topline, ‘Just Asking’ demonstrates how Aquilo have honed their touch as producers. It’s a fusion of their talents and personalities with the evocative style of Rihanna’s balladeering songcraft. Some of the credit for its luscious, enveloping sound can be attributed to the Grammy-nominated mixer Andrew Sarlo (Bon Iver, Big Thief).
“We’re super excited to let Just Asking go. We’ve actually been sitting on it for a year or so now. It was written in London when we were unsure as to where the new music would go and what we wanted to do. The lyrics kind of speak for themselves on this one. We’d been working on being a little more literal with our writing and we kind of feel we got that with Just Asking!” explain Aquilo.
Aquilo are now based in their Hackney Wick studio, where they’re deep in the making of their third album. They describe the release of the ‘Sober’ EP as a stepping stone towards future releases – its more enveloping and electronic than their first two albums, it glimmers and glistens. Their goal is to balance their overzealous self-criticism with an inquiring creative spirit that no longer puts any limits on what they can be. They cite The National and Big Thief as influences for their knack for writing sad songs “that stab you in the heart”.
Aquilo first came to attention with their independently released debut EP in 2014. That resulted in support at Radio 1 as well as their first Glastonbury set. They subsequently released the albums ‘Silhouettes’ (2017) and ‘ii’ (2018) with production credits from the likes of Ólafur Arnalds, SOHN, Johnny McDaid and Lexx.
The pair also featured on Madeon’s track ‘Innocence’, from his debut album ‘Adventure’, and teamed up with Canadian producer Vanic for ‘Losing You’. Aquilo have also been remixed by the likes of Mura Masa and Marian Hill.
Aquilo are set to embark upon their recently rescheduled European tour. It includes their first London headline show since they sold-out the Oval Space in 2018. The dates are:
SEPTEMBER
14th – London, Lafayette – Purchase tickets HERE.
21st – Berlin, Frannz Club – Purchase tickets HERE.
22nd – Amsterdam, Bitterzoet – Purchase tickets HERE.
23rd – Paris, Hasard Ludique – Purchase tickets HERE.