OUTLYA

Over the course of 2017 OUTLYA released taster tracks ‘Howl’, ‘Heaven’, ‘Higher’ and ‘The Light,’ garnering support from numerous online tastemakers including The Line of Best Fit, DIY Magazine, CLASH, Wonderland Magazine, All Things Go, The Tipping Point, Red Bull Music, God Is In The TV as well as featuring on Spotify’s New Music Friday and Hot New Bands playlists to name a few. They followed this up with the release of their ‘Volcano’ EP to a rapturous response and sold out their headline show at London’s Camden Assembly.

They’re making bright, wide eyed music that takes you outside of everyday drudgery – and it reflects the band’s own relationship to music. Other artists “make this place that people go to in their own minds,” Will explains. “If you’re a fan of Grace Jones amongst other like minded people, you’re connected. You go to that same place. Subconsciously, the reason it’s so drilled into my brain is because that’s the way I’ve always seen it, ever since I started listening to music, there was always a place to go to. There are artists like Jon Hopkins and Bonobo who make specifically transportative music, but all music has it in some way. I hope ours will do too.”

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OUTSIDE OPEN

Upstairs Open have an origin story that stretches back half a decade – it twists through serious illness and different career paths – but fate had more in store, and now Daniel James and Courtney Paynter are ready to embark upon the most exciting journey of their lives.

The pair met through a mutual friend, musical director Sam Kennedy (Foxes, Bastille) during a studio session in 2011. Both had no idea that years later they would create a band together. As Daniel’s solo career developed, he inked a deal with Capitol Records and toured with the likes of Hozier, but a series of events would force music into the backseat.

Upstairs Open began writing in early 2016, with weekly sessions in Daniel's South London flat that allowed an organic, restraint-free nature of working, ideal for developing a new sound. 'You Got Love' is their first piece to get excited about, and their debut single. A genre-defying mix of natural and electronic tones produced by long time collaborator James Earp (Fickle Friends, Bipolar Sunshine). This self released single currently sits at over 300,000 streams on Spotify, and the band cannot wait to release their next single, 'Chicago', in early 2018.