On the radar: 7VWWVW

Published on Friday 25 September 2009 15:56

Play: Eagle Diary »

Mammals are everywhere. You're one, I'm one and they're a group of them; only upside-down and back-to-front.

Lost yet? Let me fill you in.

265 million years ago mammals made their earth debut, and about 264,999,999 years later four men from Edinburgh decided to form a band and name it after the most dominant species on earth.

Simple enough, only not. Other wise bandits had chosen the name before them, and being rather fond of it they decided to keep it, albeit in a rather cryptic fashion.

Thus 7VWWVW was born.

Sounding like a quirky Boards of Canada, 7VWWVW make music "using synthesisers from the misty past".

"We're not really into computers and that funny stuff," says one of the mammals, Nick Munro. "We prefer to play the instruments and compose as a band and that's probably what gives us our unique sound.

"We have the sloppiness of humans playing keyboards rather than the robotic accuracy of music created and cut and pasted on a 'puter."

Sourced from the Under the Radar blog

7VWWVW is a real, living arts collective. They work with visual artists to create backdrops to their gigs, they run a vinyl record label called Crystal Wish, on which they put out records by their 'talented pals', and they like to produce soundtracks to films and animations.

Going into hibernation over the winter, they plan to start work on their second LP. "We record to tape, as live as possible," says Munro, "and we value the fact that our recorded music can be accurately reproduced live. We don't overdub and layer up like crazy, nuh uh son. It's craft!"

7VWWVW don't play live that often. You'll have to be a predator and keep a watch on their MySpace if you want to catch them, and if you red-blooded mammals can't wait that long, take a bite of their first recorded album for free here.