Now here’s one I've been dying to show you. ‘Committee of Sleep’ are as fitting to Lo-fi as any band I've heard. They’re tailor made for it. Based in Leeds via the North East, the Committee brings back jerky nervousness and songwriting prowess back to bands that aren't trying to out freak the freaks - bedroom pop with that 90s discomfort.

Jack, formerly of one of my favourite defunct Leeds bands, Dim Imagery and current Fossick drummer (two brooding, brutish bands), comes to me with the promise of Guided by Voices inspired Lo-fi and twee synthesizers. This was a shock to me, given the context I picture him in, but as soon as he sent me one of the many EPs this band has in their arsenal, I understood that the Committee had something rudimental about them.

I venture back to a familiar, yet unnamed studio, just off that god awful junction on Accommodation Road (you know the one). Meeting Ollie, Jenny and Sam, chilled out, a little quiet but eager, we instantly bond over Tape machines, GBV and our taste for imperfections. Jack comes in a little later, someone who brings a more boisterous energy to the Committee's overall more modest demeanor and gets them out of their shells a bit. It's a lovely combination of members.

First up is Jack’s drums and seeing how well he produced the drums on the demo, I knew I needed to bring something out to anchor the track and impress them. My regular three mic set up, matched with something new… Routing the reverb into the 4-track beforehand, so it can affect more than one mic at a time and hit the tape with that effect. Seems so simple but it's only recently ive had to think about getting it as close as possible to the sound before we record. And how good does it sound? A really powerful snare we sometimes lose to other elements of the song in other recordings.

After a real focus on the drums for the first couple of hours, it was time to zoom through. For  Jenny’s bass, we aimed for a Kim Deal tone on the jazz chorus, and was well impressed with that. Ollie’s guitar was paired with Jack’s child like synth lines. We decided that the vocals were more important, so sacrificed the guitars and synths panning options with a buss, followed by Sam’s stunning guitar tone (Maybe I need to bite the bullet and get an 8-track… Nah). 

Somewhere in there we raided all the Bobbie’s BBQ Snax from the local corner shop, I hid in the bathroom to cough during a take induced by bombay badboy soup and Ollie broke into interpretive dance to convey the stages of the song to various band members. Then it was time for vocals. My instinct was reverb and a bit of delay, but we ended up going for a much cleaner approach, which I think was the right decision, it feels so conversational between Ollie and Jenny. The obvious comparison to be made to Jenny’s vocals are Kim Deal (Second Mention), but if you like what you're hearing, do give Californian band ‘Children Maybe Later’ a listen, just great Lo-fi, it's all I listen to haha.

We finish off with a little group chorus and then call it a day, just as Evan walks through the door. What is he doing at this unnamed studio!?!

For fans of: Pixies, Guided by Voices and Beat Happening