The Playlist: Bernard & Edith

Manchester band Bernard + Edith curate The Playlist, our top 5 music recommendations chosen by taste-makers in the north.

Following their performance at Salford music festival Sounds From The Other City this weekend we asked Manchester boy-girl duo Bernard + Edith to curate The Playlist, and share the music that has inspired them. With a hypnotic trip-hop style and vocals that are dreamy, haunting and at times border-line sinister, Bernard + Edith are clearly a pair that have grown up on a strict diet of David Lynch. Their EP Poppy opens with foreboding chimes but possesses a warmth that beckons, even if it does feel like it might be a journey fated to end in creepy, foggy forest.

Eerie aesthetics aside, Bernard + Edith (or Nick and Greta, as they’re known in “real life”) are ones to watch among the roster of bands on independent record label SWAYS; they also opened for Money at last year’s Manchester International Festival.

And so, to their Playlist; which begins with Angelo Badalamenti’s Laura’s Theme from the Twin Peaks soundtrack (but of course) and guides us through the musicians informing their own work; among them the Kuwait-born Fatima Al Quadiri and John Maus, (who wins top marks in our book for the hyper-90s music video for Bennington- a must watch).

1. Angelo Badalamenti – Laura Palmer’s Theme

We’re big Angelo Badalamenti fans and his music is the perfect compliment to David Lynchs’s iconic TV series Twin Peaks. Laura’s Theme is full of eerie atmosphere and a good one for driving with at night.

2. Fever Ray – When I Grow Up

A massive soundscape by The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson. It will take you to the snowy Mountains of Scandinavia. Almost everything we do is influenced by Dreijer Andersson’s debut Fever Ray album- it will never be overplayed in our eyes.

3.  John Maus – Bennington

We love John Maus’ charisma and personality, and the energy and emotions that come through very naturally in his music. This track is from his 2012 compilation A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material. John Maus is a genius and a huge inspiration to us.

 4. Crustas –  Broken

We love the production and overall vibe of this track which reminds us of our first days of making music together.

 5. Fatima Al Quadari – Szechuan

Born in Senegal and raised in Kuwait, Fatima Al Quadiri (aka Ayshay) is now based in Brooklyn and draws inspiration from oriental and traditional middle eastern music. This track come from her new album Asiatisch, which is inspired by her own fantasies of Asia.