12 July 2021 - 0 Comments

Lips is a four-piece musical project led by Steph Brown (she/her) and Fen Ikner (he/him) based in Tamaki Makaurau. Lips' music finds its roots in the familiar melodies of homegrown Indie, the tender embrace of Synth Pop, and the humorous side-eye of American New Wave. Ultimately resulting in a sound that's a celebration of feeling awkward and embracing it anyway.

Today they share Empty Hours, the third single from their upcoming album I Don't Know Why I Do Anything (out July 16).

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Empty Hours follows the spiky jubilance of Your Deodorant Doesn't Work, and the blistering crunch of Heave Ho! The track is far more solemn, with slowly building synths, and contemplative melodies. Empty Hours showcases the breadth of sounds that await on Lips' debut album.

Steph explains the songs origns "In 2019 Tom Scott (Avantdale Bowling Club, Years Gone By) asked if we could contribute to an album he was curating, where he wanted musicians to reimagine the music of Street Fighter II. He asked if I’d make something around the theme for the character Chun Li."

"I hadn’t heard the music but I was so stoked that he asked because I love everything Tom puts out (we have his vinyl at home). Chun Li and the game's accompanying flute melody became the jumping off point for the track."

Following a few copyright concerns the track was changed and ended up morphing into Empty Hours. Through the process the song's narrative emerged, with the lyrics sharing a story about being a teenager, playing video games for hours at a stretch, and the overwhelming feelings and emotions of adolescence.

Drummer Fen Ikner took charge of creating the visual accompaniment, and took the song's story literally. "I wanted the video to look like the game they’d be playing. I was thinking of old NES and Atari games playing on a 1980's wood-paneled TV, as I am old, and that’s what video games look like in my old-ass head."

To celebrate the release of I Don't Know Why I Do Anything, Lips are hitting the road, traveling the length and breadth of Aotearoa throughout Hongongoi (July) and Here-turi-koka (August).

The tour is a co-headline event, with Lips sharing the van with Tamaki Makaurau group Phoebe Rings. The band centers around the songwriting of Crystal Choi (she/her), a sought after keys player who has toured with Princess Chelsea, Chelsea Jade and A.C. Freazy. The band's dream pop echoes are further aided by the playing of Alex Freer (he/him, A.C. Freazy), Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent (he/him, Lucky Boy^), and Benjamin Locke (he/him, Sea Views). Their debut single Cheshire was a favourite on the SRN stations.

The co-headline tour begins on July 24 in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) at Moon. The following weekend they'll travel to Te Waipounamu (South Island) to perform in Otautahi (Christchurch) at Space Academy on July 30, then Otepoti (Dunedin) at Dive on July 31, followed by Waihopai (Invercargill), a the Tuatara Cafe on August 1. They'll travel back to home base in Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland) to perform at Neck of the Woods on August 5. Tickets for the shows are available through Undertheradar.

While their debut album I Don't Know Why I Do Anything has been a long time coming, it's not like Lips haven't been busy. Since their inception in the late 00's the band have released a handful of singles and EPs, won the Silver Scroll Award in 2012 for Everything To Me, toured internationally as musical directors and performers in award winning musical stage play Daffodils, which they later went on to music direct and score as a feature film.

Eager to re-engage with playing original music Steph and Fen enlisted the help of Ruby Walsh (she/her, Dateline, Trip Pony) and Maude Morris (she/her, Lexxa). In 2019 the band released Guilty Talk (mixed by Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Silicon’s Kody Nielson), which went to Number 1 on NZ’s Student Radio Network. In 2020 the Covid-19 lockdowns led the band to finally finish their long awaited debut release.

Photo Credit: Lula Cucchiara

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