We love discovering new music that hits that special spot, so we asked some #takeovertimeout contributors: what’s your top song of 2015 so far?
1. Moody three-piece London Grammar met at Nottingham University in 2009. Front woman Hannah Reid and guitarist Dan Rothman were Facebook friends before meeting in halls. (It’s how all self-respecting postmodern bands are born.)
2. They later stumbled across multi-instrumentalist Dot Major when he was playing the djembe in the student union. (All self-respecting postmodern bands also need a djembe player.)
3. They signed to independent dance label Ministry after being spotted by an A&R at a soundcheck before a gig in Camden.
4. When they signed their publishing deal, Hannah celebrated by buying 500 gems on the video game ‘Clash of Clans’ (RRP: £2.99).
5. The band posted track ‘Hey Now’ to YouTube in December last year with no official video. It had reached over 1 million hits by 2014. It is unclear how many of these views were actually people searching for Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’.
6. Their debut album, ‘If You Wait’, was written mostly in Dan’s garage in Hendon. It went in at Number Two in the charts and sold over 250,000 copies.
7. The album was the bookies’ favourite to win the Mercury Music Prize before it had even been released. It never made the shortlist.
8. London Grammar featured on Disclosure’s hit ‘Help Me Lose My Mind’. The video for the song remained online for just one morning before being removed by Disclosure’s label due to fears that it depicted kids having a little too much fun of the medicated variety.
9. Hannah’s favourite female vocalists include Jessie J, Whitney Houston and Barbara Streisand. She is yet to cover ‘The Way We Were’.
10. Dan describes their sound as ‘a blend of Fleetwood Mac and Drake’.
11. The band covered Miley Cyrus’s ‘Wrecking Ball’ in the Radio One Live Lounge. They also outsold the scantily clad chanteuse in the UK last year.
