“Dulldrums take the memories of loss and regret and turn them into something expansive, thoughtful and ultimately hopeful.”
With their debut EP It Was The Past (out 6th November 2026), Manchester based husband and wife duo Dulldrums present a ‘dream folk’ sound. The six track EP is a blend of classical guitar, hazy synths and very carefully layered arrangements, a very deliberate fusion of the folk tradition and their own indie rock roots. For Matt and Rachel it’s a very much a new creative chapter following their time in Mewn and it’s a chance to write and record in a more liberated way without any compromise on what they set out to do.
The EP is very much a record about loss and regret, it’s a record that looks back at things and emotions that you just can’t quite let go of. “Carry You On” is the final track and it’s a very deliberate shift in the direction of the record. Rather than just end on the melancholy of the past, Dulldrums have chosen to end on a more hopeful note. That contrast is what gives the EP a sense of direction really, it moves from the past to the possibility of carrying something on. The title track “It Was The Past” is by far the most ambitious piece on the record, clocking in at over seven minutes. The basic structure is actually quite simple, really just two chords with a very limited number of changes. Rather than being a constant movement of music, it’s designed to be quite hypnotic in its effect, with clear reference points to the Velvet Underground’s “Heroin”, Steve Reich and LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends”. One of the most striking things about the track is what happens at the very beginning: Rachel plays a guitar with a screwdriver and every string is tuned to the same note. She sustains that note throughout the whole song creating a drone which is absolutely fundamental to the track. The arrangement then builds up through the studio, layer upon layer, from a very simple premise into something quite substantial. The trick was to achieve the effect of a full band without losing the experimental nature of the piece and without it just being a series of interesting noises. It had to have the weight of a full band performance and still be a piece of pop music. That’s the approach that underpins the whole EP really. Matt and Rachel originally wrote the songs at home, playing one instrument at a time and just imagining the rest of the layers that would eventually come in. They then went to their friend Shane (a proper producer and engineer) to record it to a click and build the arrangements in the studio. It was a massive shift from their previous way of working which was essentially to record it as a live band with a few overdubs. Neither of the musicians is a drummer so the drums are kept to a very simple arrangement, mostly toms and cymbals in a very Velvet Underground style.
Their musical roles in turn were a big part of defining the project. Rachel, who’s had a classical guitar background and previously played lead guitar, now uses the classical guitar as her primary instrument (though she’ll occasionally bring in the electric). Matt is the one who moves between lead guitar and synths. The influences are as wide as the ocean really: Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention, Bert Jansch, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Nico and Lankum in the modern folk camp. The indie rock side of things (Pixies, Pavement, The Smiths, Radiohead) are also very much part of the mix as are the more disparate influences of Scott Walker, Durutti Column and Portishead. The EP also contains “If I’d Known” (which came out as a single on 18th September), “Forgive Me”, “Silent Now” and “Cher Lloyd by Cher Lloyd”. The track listing includes the single edits of “If I’d Known” and “Carry You On” as well as the main versions, providing shorter versions of two of the songs on the collection. For Dulldrums this is about much more than just launching a new project. Having been playing live with Mewn for years, Matt and Rachel were keen to have a way of making music that would allow them to experiment, to develop ideas at their own pace and to work on arrangements that would have been very difficult to do in the way they’d previously been doing it. *It Was The Past* is the product of that shift in direction. It’s a very clear statement of their sound, a mixture of folk roots, studio experimentation and songwriting that is very reflective. The ending is a very hopeful one, which is to say that looking back doesn’t necessarily mean you stay there.
English