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VOWWS are an Australian duo, based in Los Angeles. They have described their project as ’Death Pop’ – existential angst and longing, feeding on a diet of pop culture, cinema and advertising…

On their first two records, 2015’s The Great Sun and 2018’s Under the World, VOWWS (Matt and Rizz) honed a unique approach to songwriting and production. The duo regularly step outside of genre norms and defy expectations – unexpected left turns, lilting melodic hooks, swaggering beats and atmospheric soundscapes all combine to create a world like no other. Not content with traditional recording techniques, the band feed electronically written songs and instrumental parts through analog and vintage gear, layering them with guitars, synths and sound design to create a unique, genre straddling, impossible to replicate sound. This DIY, multi-disciplinary approach also extended to the band’s own visual and video work, which both inspires, and is inspired by, the music.

Their experimental style – as well as the songs themselves, have won the interest of some distinguished collaborators including Gary Numan (who performed guest vocals on The Great Sun) Thor Harris (Swans) and Deftones frontman Chino Moreno. In December of 2018, the band reconstructed a single from their second album, Structure of Love, with Moreno and Danny Lohner of N.I.N. Moreno recorded a featured vocal duet with Rizz, crooning the chorus, I can’t get you out of my mind, your love is so hard to define.

The fashion world also took notice of VOWWS’ strong aesthetic sensibilities. In January 2019, the band were invited to perform a live score for the Comme Des Garçons runway show at Paris Men’s Fashion Week. The relationship with Comme and it’s retail partner, Dover Street Market, flourished as they were invited for in-store performances in Tokyo and London, as well as designing an exclusive merchandise line for the brand.

In 2020, on the heels of a partially completed world tour with Poppy, VOWWS released multiple singles and videos – musical commentaries on the shit show unfolding before them – Impulse Control, Them and Stay Where You Are (with their accompanying videos, directed and edited by the band) perfectly captured the monotonous, confusing and relentless dystopia of the year everything changed.

In June 2021 the band released a Death Pop version of the Britney Spears hit, Womanizer and are now working on their next full-length release.