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The idea of a home-listening record from Bicep feels suspiciously oxymoronic. Like Orbital and Avicii before them, the Belfast-born duo of Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson are one of those electronic acts designed for the sweeping euphoria of big summer stages.
Isles, their second album, should be blowing the cobwebs off the Southern Hemisphereâs festival circuit as you read this. Instead, the pandemic intervened, so Bicep are rolling out a domesticated version of their music, promising a âmuch, much harderâ version of the same material to be delivered in person once itâs safe to tread the boards. No wonder Bicep sounded so miserable on comeback single âAtlas,â a song whose Ofra Haza sample and synth squiggles suggest an (inverted) cross between Richie Hawtinâs F.U.S.E. project and the Sisters of Mercy: the live shutdown has left them like heirs to a knife factory in the age of big soup.