Only a year ago I remember sitting in Manning Bar, at the University of Sydney, being blown away by this female duo’s set whose elusive, eerie sounds shook my soul, their voices sweet and strong, leaving me floating, never wanting to come back down. They played again and again as their competitors for the 2009 Band Comp prize started fading away, and the night they won the room was packed, bursting eardrums from the applause and screams from their followers...already. And that was before they kicked off the ground and started playing venues, making albums and touring. Made up of Freya Berkhout and Alyx Dennison, their unconventional sound evokes a fusion of Sigur Ros, Bjork and Kate Bush. This isn’t a dream. This is kyü. 

How did you two meet and start this amazing sound?
It was a bit of a happy accident. Alyx was initially entering band comp as a solo artist and asked me to play triangle because I had an access card. However, our first rehearsal was an absolute disaster, but we tried again, and after a night that is a bit of a blurry memory, "Sunny in Splodges" was created. We were friends about nine months before we started making music, so our baby was conceived when we first met, and born nine months later.

What inspired you to create kyü?
We've both been surrounded by music our whole lives and hoped to be musicians, but before we met, we both intended to work solo. It's just incredible luck that makes our voices blend. We love to experiment with dissonance and harmony which seems to make for an interesting combination, as well as tribal and (hopefully) ethereal elements.

What do you think is most important about your music?
Experimentation is the most important thing for us. It means that we're always trying to create something new, hopefully something inspiring. We also have a very strong emotional connection to our music, so if we can capture that and present it to an audience, we've done what we set out to do.
 

So where do you guys like to go when you’re not playing?
Restaurant: Ichi Ban Boshi
Bar: Opera Bar
Cafe: The Falconer
Venues: The Red Rattler

Listen to their amazing sound on their new album to be released soon, and catch them live at venues around town. They'll transport you to another world on a one way ticket. Welcome to kyü.