Words/ Rachel June
London-based duo Lavender release brand new album ‘we’re having a barn dance‘ out TODAY, Friday, 23rd May 2025. Their music is sweet, soft, and dreamy. Their voices collide with ease, taking you on a journey through peaceful melodies. Drifting, soothing, delectable. Their music uses interesting vocals reminiscent of Bon Iver – with heavier elements like beats, guitar and enriching harmonies.
Who are lavender?
We are a duo, based in London, made up of Adam (a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist) and Oskar (a beat maker/producer).
For someone that is yet to discover you, how would you describe your music?
Hmmm it’s always tricky to say. There’s always a feeling we get when we know it’s a lavender track that’s hard to describe but you know it when you see it. We each have very different musical worlds but between us our influences must cover a large palette which gets all fused without really thinking about it.
It’s deeply textured, comprising of layers upon layers of often minute details. We experiment a lot and love messing around with sonics and structure and form but that’s all in service of creating a feeling. Someone described it as nostalgic before and there’s a lot of reflection and sentiment in the songs which is usually inspired by the music itself so can see how that comes across!
What inspired you as artists?
Musically I think we’ve both always been pretty curious about how our favourite artists approached making music, breaking down those processes and seeing what we can transcribe to something new. I think mainly though we’re inspired by each other. We’re both a little different and have different ears and different minds, so when we present ideas to each other it’s always something that the other person could never have comprehended alone – which then sparks completely fresh creative response and it’s a back and forth that sends us down amazing rabbit holes.
Outside of that hopefully in the least insufferable way possible, I (Oskar) am pretty into art and painters, particularly cubism and post cubist surrealism & modern art. For me (Adam) I think this record was inspired by a kind of awakening to what music could serve as in terms of personal help. Was definitely inspired by the lived experience allowing a direct less filtered flow from my personal life experience into the music as an outlet.
What Is Your Pre-Show Routine?
Adam gets in his head and stops being able to hold a normal conversation with anyone. Oskar has a strict maximum of 2 beers and stays cool calm and collected right up until showtime (then proceeds to freakout).
Where do you feel you fit into the music landscape?
Somewhere between Venga Boys and System of a Down
What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike?
Favourite – gabba
Least Favourite – alternative indie/sample-heavy hip-hop fusion
But you can’t help the cards you’ve been dealt
Is there a story behind the band’s name ?
Yeah! We were batting round a few bad ones and then Adam was up in Wolverhampton with our good friend Nathan (NEONE The Wonderer), who we’d sent our first ever beatpack to. A few drinks in and Nathan was describing the music to another pal. Adam was wearing a purpley flowery shirt, and he said ‘it’s weird it’s kinda like hip-hop but it also sounds like adam’s shirt’. And then adam immediately messaged oskar being like ‘we should name it after a flower!’, osk suggested lavender and we were like ‘eh yeah fine that’ll do for now’ and here we are many moons later.
What would you say is your greatest strength as a band?
200m hurdles
What would you say is your greatest weakness as a band?
Both of our lower backs
What music artists would you say have influenced your work?
It’s a pretty wide list, historically Radiohead, Frank Ocean, Khruangbin, J Dilla, Burial, American Football, Skream & Benga, MIKE, so many! Recently Alabaster DePlume, Hana Stretton, Leif Vollebekk
Who would you most like to collaborate with artistically?
Man, tough question! I dunno if we could pin it down to just one artist because there are so many we’d love to work with. I think Frank and Justin Vernon have always been top of our lists.
Worst performance?
Adam’s school sports day circa 2006
Biggest obstacle & how did you overcame it?
The 200m hurdles at Adam’s sports day circa 2006. Deep breaths, summoned spirit of Jess Ennis, never looked back.
What is your creative process when making music?
It ranges quite a lot. We have a few different ways into starting tracks, when we’re apart one of us will start an idea and then share it with the other, and from there it’s just open game, for the other to chop up, restructure, take one small part and expand or just layer/reharmonise the original. When we’re together, I guess the process is similar but the feedback loop is just shorter. It’s just a ping-ponging of ideas, and the added layers just come quicker. We work extremely quickly in those moments of inspiration, and then microscopically labour over the finishing touches like maniacs.
This year, what can we expect?
Album releases to unprecedented critical acclaim -> mercury prize -> platinum record -> stadium tour -> billboards -> vogue cover -> become the beauty standard -> buy adjoining mansions -> distance ourselves and eventually cut ties with longstanding family and friends -> replace with new richer/cooler ones -> lose sight of why we started making music in the first place -> begin to dislike who we’ve become -> start getting back to the basics of how we started -> make phenomenal second album -> reach back out to family and friends for forgiveness -> get forgiven -> release second album -> repeat above.
