ROYEL OTIS

After forming in 2019 and slowly drip-feeding music into the world during the pandemic, Royel Otis garnered fans in BBC Radio 6 Music, triple j and on US college radio. To date, they have amassed over 75 million streams, covered global playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, and headed out on a debut headline tour of the UK and Europe.

After releasing their first music in the form of 2021 EP Campus, the duo shared a further pair of EPs in 2022 – Bar & Grill and Sofa Kings – which slowly and carefully morphed their sound into new shapes, moving away from synths and towards guitars while keeping their signature and rare chemistry. “If you play songs with reverb and synths, they can become a bit washed out,” Otis says. “When you go back to basics and do it dry, there’s an energy and a magic there.”

The pair write lyrics together, and describe the process as like a tennis match. “Someone gets an ace, someone gets a fault,” they laugh. “It’s a doubles match and we’re on the same side, playing against a very good brick wall.” In mixing their skill sets, they write songs about drunken arguments and personal trials mixed with surrealism in a way that is mirrored in their music.

Whatever sonic template the music might be based on, the crux of Royel Otis comes back to a foundational DNA of mutual trust. Royel says: “We have fun together, and it’s not difficult. I trust what Otis thinks and what he does, and I back it. If you back each other, something good comes from it.”