Sistertalk are sat downstairs at The Old Blue Last in East London. It’s a crisp January evening, the sort that makes you bristle the collars on your coat and pucker your lips together as you stroll down the street, all with that thought of where the windy nights and New Year can take you.
Sitting suited to a tee, these are the nights Sistertalk have made their own over the past year, becoming a word of mouth nod throughout London and scooping new band picks and shows across the board, all without a single song out in the world. Now, they’re ready to step out to something bigger.
“The sooner you get things out, the sooner the pressure is on you,” notes frontman Gabriel Levy, sitting alongside his brother Daniel as they gear up for another show to kick in their next chapter.
For those who’ve managed to catch a glimpse of Sistertalk, it’s understandable why the hype is high. Stepping on stage with unbridled confidence and looking brimmed with the sort of sharp attire that makes you want to be in their gang from the very first note, that blend of menacing electro and snappy post-punk stamps its ground as a band unlike any other right now.
Gabriel and Daniel were the first in their family to pick up an instrument. Music had always been a ringing normal in their house (“Our parents have incredible taste in music,” cracks Gabriel), sharing a wall with the neighbour next door who just so happened to be a professor of guitars.
From the age of 7/8, Gabriel picked up the guitar and never looked back, pointing out that “for me, it was always a means of expression more than anything else.” He’d learn a new song and put on shows for his family, charging 50p for entry of course. That connection between him and his brother was always tight.
He started playing drums soon after, and they began jamming together regularly. They had already been drawn to bassist Tom from an early age, meeting at a youth club where they bonded over the same things that others there weren’t interested in, from there playing in each other’s bedrooms and various guises for a number of years. With Daniel meeting guitarist James while at university and the idea of starting a band was at the forefront of their mind, and then meeting Seth after seeing him play around London - Sistertalk were set.
It’s understandable for all of their live buzz that the band threw themselves into things when it came to getting out there. “We were quite shy anyway,” admits Gabriel.
That’s certainly something they’ve nailed over the past year and a half, with their frantic, grooving and potent hooks making their mark no matter what the night and no matter who would be following after them. Stopping people in their tracks with intrigue, it’s like a boardroom summit erupting into frenzied and palpable destruction, with a band doing things differently.
“And listens!” comes back Gabriel.
That’s the next step, with debut track ‘Vitriol’ out in the world showcasing what live crowds have been lapping up - the sort of pulsating and shape-shifting cut that bursts into darkness and holds it in the palm of its hand.
As Daniel picks up: “It has that frantic sound of being the first thing we wrote, so it’s nice that we’ve kept that as the first thing to put out there.”
Looking back at what they have recorded so far, it’s clear Sistertalk wanted to make sure they were ready - both in the studio and out facing the world.
“It’s been interesting and a little bit tricky because we’ve taken that do it yourself approach,” notes Gabriel. “We wanted to learn how to produce and mix our own music as opposed to walking into a studio without any idea at all and paying someone a flat fee to do a terrible job that we’d have to take.
With an understanding of what lies ahead and a knowledge that now means they can widen their palette of sounds and recording. Lyrics explore the mundanities of everyday life (“in London, there are so many places you can find those stories”) and with a sound that shakes things up good and proper, Sistertalk are primed for a big 12 months.
“We just want to stay true to ourselves, however long this journey may be and see where it takes us,” lays out Gabriel, looking ahead at what seems set on the horizon. "If it takes us to whatever stage that’s great, but we just want to make stuff that people enjoy, and we enjoy. It sounds very nice, but that genuinely is it.
No longer London’s best kept live secret, Sistertalk are bringing their unmistakable sound to the masses. As Gabriel and Daniel head back to the rest of the band, they’re commanding a space downstairs in the pub sharply-dressed as standouts in the room, before blistering through another memorable set that proves why so many are talking about them.
Sistertalk are a different type of pack in modern music - now get ready for the ride.
Taken from the March edition of Dork. Order a copy below, or subscribe here. Words: Jamie Muir
