It is quickly apparent that the pair’s skills and experience perfectly balance each other’s weaknesses; tommy’s production prowess gives piri a fluid framework to rely on, while she supplies a natural voice for the feelings they both share. This relationship directly translates into song, with ‘easy’ detailing the comfortable moments and ‘words’ paying tribute to some tougher times.

One place they’re always on the same page is the live stage, with a blistering number of performances cultivating a honed approach to each set. “The first time you got on stage, people already knew your songs – that put a lot of weight on your shoulders,” tommy converses. “You’re really excited to do gigs now, though; you’ve come so far.”

These shows have brought the huge TikTok numbers the pair have racked up into reality, morphing formidable digits into countless bodies. This isn’t an outcome that either musician were entirely confident would materialise. “One track blowing up doesn’t translate into a solid reputation,” piri clarifies. “You have to establish yourself by releasing a lot of good music so people can back you and trust that you’re going to put on a sick show.”

With their formidable debut project, ‘froge.mp3’, piri & tommy have done just that. With twelve bangers under their belts, there is sufficient material to have complete faith in the act going forward. Despite making the most of that long-form format, the two 23-year-olds are still spurred on by the chaos of their generation that is evidenced best on social media. Pushing aside any industry pessimism, they connect authentically with their fan base and find inspiration amongst peers in an arena only the youth are placed to understand.

“People online gravitate towards people being themselves,” she adds, which tommy reinforces, saying that it’s a principle which extends far beyond social media.

Moving on to discuss the cover of their first record, “They’re just really fun to draw, basically,” piri says of the amphibian obsession that has taken over her aesthetic, stage shows and now artwork. “When we met, I was in a phase of drawing frogs and toads, and we just started calling each other ‘froge’ as a nickname, and that’s still going until this day.”

A crocheted frog hat soon became a staple accessory that defines her signature look. When filming a music video involving the intrinsically linked couple digesting a psychedelic frog (‘on and on’), the chance to continue their vibrant aesthetic proved hard to resist.

It’s these “it just happened” moments that have come to define their music, too, and the whole project was not something that was envisioned as a body of work – hence, the not-quite-debut-album terminology. “It wasn’t ever intended to be an album; we were just making songs,” piri admits. “We did what was best for each song and didn’t think about anything else, like how it would fit into a project.”

Never really planned as a body of work, its coming together happened naturally as the couple captured moments throughout their first year of dating. Now, though, their schedules are full to the brim, with a big headline tour around the corner. “You’ve just got to take one thing at a time; thinking about it too much can cause stressful moments,” piri comments, “but at least we’ve always got each other.”

Leaning on each other is the key part of any group, but it’s even more important when you live together, create together and tour together. When tommy’s not taking a break at his parents’ southern farm, he’s getting to know the strengths and weaknesses that the duo can trade off. As he casually phrases it, “you’re the brains, and I’m the vibes.”

piri is less keen to take ownership of their careers but confirms that, “that’s what good teams are all about, having people with different skills that can make up for each other’s weaknesses - and we love what we do together.”

Moving forward, both of the dance obsessives are keen to expand their team with more collaboration. Having written, recorded, produced, mixed, and designed every aspect of their first big statement, they’re ready to open up to the influence of others. Jax Jones and kkbutterfly27xx are two names that have already been feeding this hype machine, but, beyond rising up the charts, there’s one major ambition in mind for 2023.

piri & tommy struggle to stay still and focus on what’s behind them, but when forced to do so, all they see is an ever-growing collection of happy memories. ‘froge.mp3’ is fluid, effortless, in-the-moment, a true realisation of the freedom the pair have experienced to date and serves as a time capsule of a joyous year, perhaps a hint at what might be to come.

“The one track that sticks out for me is ‘sunlight’ because it’s the first song we ever wrote, and it really just came out of nowhere,” tommy reminisces. “The memory of us creating that song is so vivid in my mind.” On this, his counterpart has no qualms: “I got really emotional when the mixtape dropped because the last lyric of that song, the last song on the project, is: ‘let’s start something / all or nothing’. We had no idea at the time what we were even saying with that. It’s mad - we manifested it all.” ■