OTHERLiiNE

Formed in 2019 and focusing on the mellow, moodier side of R&B-tinged deep house, this U.K. electronic duo comprise George FitzGerald and Lil Silva (aka Tyrone Jermaine Carter), two home counties-born producers whose self-made music careers pre-dated their collaboration. While FitzGerald was in Berlin and in the process of establishing himself as a Domino Records artist after signing a contract with the eclectic label in 2013, Lil Silva's glut of bass music 12"s and vocal explorations on labels such as Night Slugs and Good Years opened doors to higher-profile production opportunities. His work on the 2014 debut LP from alternative R&B artist Banks led Mark Ronson to ask for his assistance on Adele's multi-million-selling 25 the following year. Next, when Fitzgerald remixed "Lines" from Lil Silva's 2016 Jimi EP, the pair were so pleased with the results that they vowed to work together again. Their following pre-OTHERLiiNE joint effort came when Lil Silva contributed a soulful vocal line to FitzGerald's slow-building 2018 single "Roll Back," ultimately appearing on his second solo album, All That Must Be. When considering names for a fully collaborative project, they settled on OTHERLiiNE, stylized with two "i's" to represent their individual contributions, and inspired by "Lines," the track that signified their genesis. Early on, the duo enlisted Alexander Brown as a creative director, a visual artist who had previously worked with Maribou State and James Blake. Sessions for a projected EP soon morphed into a whole album's worth of material, the first results of which -- August 2019's drifting, but hard-hitting "Chimes" and October 2019's more vocally oriented "Hates Me" -- enjoyed debut plays on Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show. By the time of their January 2020 eponymous debut album, they had major-label backing from Sony Music via Ministry of Sound. Clocking in at under 30 minutes, it was a short but declarative statement, creatively combining the pair's shared love of house, techno, garage, R&B, and IDM. ~ James Wilkinson