Blending reverb-soaked shoegaze with minimalist electronic production, the KVB's

music reflected Nicholas Wood and Kat Day's mastery of atmosphere even as their

sound evolved over the course of the 2010s. Early releases such as 2012's debut

album, Always Then, dealt in brittle beats and sonic blasts that evoked Cabaret

Voltaire and the Jesus and Mary Chain in equal measure, but the duo's style became

more streamlined and sharp-edged on later efforts such as 2018's Only Now

Forever and 2021's Unity.

Formed in 2010 by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Wood as a solo

project, the KVB got started with a number of limited cassette and vinyl releases that

included the single "The Black Sun" on FLA Records and the Into the Night EP on

Downwards Records. Vocalist/keyboardist/visual artist Kat Day joined Wood in 2011,

and the KVB released their debut album, Always Then, in 2012 on Clan Destine

Records. The duo kicked off a busy 2013 with the release of their second full-length,

Immaterial Visions, for the Minimal Wave imprint Cititrax that February, then followed it

with a remix EP featuring contributions by Regis and Silent Servant that May; in

November, a reissue of 2011's previously limited-edition cassette release Minus

One arrived on Brian Jonestown Massacre mastermind Anton Newcombe's A Records

label.

The following year, the pair ventured to Newcombe's Berlin studio to track what would

become the Out of Body EP, which A Records released later that year. This session

marked the KVB's first recordings made outside of the duo's own home studio as well

as the first time working with drummer Joe Dilworth, known for his work

with Stereolab and Cavern of Anti-Matter. Wood and Day collected some of the more

experimental output they recorded in 2014 on Mirror Being, which Invada released the

following June. The band continued to move in a more experimental, heavily electronic

direction on 2016's Of Desire, which the KVB recorded with vintage synths from Invada

head Geoff Barrow's collection. The Fixation/White Walls EP followed in 2017, and that

year the duo also issued a remastered, five-year anniversary edition of Always Then.

For 2018's Only Now Forever, Day and Wood took a freer, more independent

approach, recording on their own in their Berlin apartment for the better part of a year.

On their next album, the KVB changed gears again. Taking inspiration from the stark

beauty of unfinished luxury villas they saw during a 2019 stint in

Spain, Wood and Day blended retro-futuristic synths and danceable rhythms into their

shoegaze foundations with the help of producer Andy Savours on November

2021's Unity.

by Heather Phares