two blinks, i love you releases 'the coldest winter ever' ft. Tonia
wo blinks, i love you - 'the coldest winter ever' ft. Tonia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjvyfN88uNE
SELECTS Pitchfork
SPOTLIGHT ON…The Independent (Q&A)
“cleverly written lyrics, soft vocals and light guitar riffs” The Evening Standard
“high-stakes vulnerability” The Line of Best Fit
“atmospheric and intoxicating” CLASH Magazine
“a more mature turn musically” DORK Magazine
February 5th - Liverpool songwriter two blinks, i love you - AKA Liam Brown - releases new single ‘the coldest winter ever’ ft. Tonia via Heist or Hit.
The glistening track is an acoustic paean to the simplistic ability of a shared love to heighten ordinary situations, and counter external factors which might drag you down, as Liam explains:
“The core of the song's message, I feel, is that "us vs. the world" mentality when you're in love. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, it doesn’t really affect you all that much when you love someone. It makes cold and harsh winters feel a little kinder, in some ways, maybe.”
Sonically, it is a patient piece covered in gleaming frost - twinkling piano supplements casual guitar strums to provide a base for Liam and fellow Liverpool based artist Tonia, to call-and-respond and harmonise with subtle elan. As all great songs, it seemed to spring quite naturally, sourced from two blinks’ bottomless well - as he reveals:
“’the coldest winter ever’ came to me quite randomly one evening. I think my relationship with sleep is a bit estranged, and that was ultimately the reason I wrote this song. It was around 4 a.m., and I thought it would be interesting to write a love song set around wintertime. I was also a bit tired of Christmas songs and wanted to pay respects to the season without directly referencing Christmas. I wrote the song to help me fall asleep, essentially. The next morning, I woke up, recorded a rough demo, texted my good friend and mixing engineer, Sophie, and told her I thought my friend Antonia (Tonia) would sound great on it — and she did. And the rest is history.”
Following hot on the heels of two blinks, i love you’s recent ep 2, ‘the coldest winter ever’ is an engaging standalone single which ornaments the honest and earnest world Liam continues to build with this project.
ABOUT two blinks, i love you
two blinks, i love you springs from the prolific mind of Liverpool-based songwriter Liam Brown, previously known for his work as pizzagirl - where he built zany, aesthetic bedroom-pop worlds across two albums admired by VICE (Noisey), The Guardian, The FADER, PASTE, BBC 6Music and Radio 1, and more.
Liam emerged in this new guise in 2023 with the austere but emotive debut single ‘i love you’, which heralded his debut project ep 1 - which also featured the singles ‘carnegie hall’, ‘birthday surprise’ and ‘loveseat’. October 2024’s scuzzy exploration ‘sentiment’ provided a stylistic evolution and placeholder.
He quickly caught the attention of Pitchfork, The Independent, The Evening Standard, The Line of Best Fit, CLASH, DORK and more with a finely honed sound calling to mind the wistful off-piste ruminations of Alex G, Yo La Tengo, Elliott Smith, The Mouldy Peaches or Wilco.
His sophomore release, the simply titled ep 2 was an aesthetic ode to NYC, pulling at the early 2000s alt-rock and folk output of the city, reflecting on love and loss in a way that’s more direct than Liam anticipated.
A pilgrimage to New York late last year allowed Liam to live out his inner Fran Lebowitz fantasies. Cocooned in overpopulation, he found himself drunk & alone, singing the Human League at a karaoke bar after watching the Knicks in Madison Square Garden.
Alongside label Heist or Hit, it was deemed that in order to grasp at the atmosphere of the great Gotham, transplanting two blinks from the bedroom to the studio would be an important next step for the sound. More polish than spit.
Yet still, two blinks, i love you embraces the charm of imperfection, and the plaintive beauty of not knowing everything. Rather than hiding behind any misdirection he leans into this, and exposes an honest picture of himself.
two blinks, i love you Online
Website | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | YouTube
