Kelora want to cleanse your timeline

Listening to Kelora is a balm for our times. The London-via-Glasgow duo, made up of Kitty Hall and Ben Salter, have perfected an otherworldly sound that blends folk, darkpop and electronica. Their latest album, Sleepers, sounds like a 30 minute serenade from the great beyond. ​“We were inspired by feeling lost, dreams, and the confusion and strangeness of living life in two different places: the physical world and the world that’s on your phone,” Ben says.

Behind the album’s celestial vocals, melancholic guitars and field recordings lurks a celestial character: the internet. On When the Floods Come, You’ll Be an Island, Kitty and Ben ponder our ​“nylon world”; on Willow Song, scrolling leads to suffocating paranoia. Aura, one of the record’s most underrated tracks, references dreams and darkness and being buried alive. ​“I had friends who were going through a bit of a social media meltdown, which was having a big impact on their physical lives,” Kitty says of the inspiration behind the songs. ​“In this parallel to the real world, how do you know if your thoughts are even your own?”

Out there in the real world, Kelora are gearing up for some shows across the UK and Europe. ​“We’re trying to be as healthy as possible as we’re putting so much of this tour on just us,” Ben says. ​“If you’re tired or hungover, that becomes a mess, so we’re doing boring stuff like eating and sleeping properly at the moment.”

Sounds like they’ve got their heads screwed on. So, behold, Kelora’s Guide to Modern Living.

If you could make a rule for a month, like dry January, what would it be?

K: No phone June – it has to be a summer month when the weather is really nice. Bring back phone boxes. Maybe you can still use a computer but when you’re out, you’re out. You’d then probably find it easier to remember things like what actually happened in your life.

B: So much of what makes us happy or sad is based on our performance within social media apps. Life doesn’t need to be this way. Inspiration is everywhere and life is beautiful!

Do you have any self-imposed social media rules?

K: We’ve been cautious not to post things that contradict the way our music sounds – stuff that adds atmosphere, rather than anything that contrasts with that too much. We haven’t posted a lot of photos of ourselves online, which isn’t good for the algorithm. A lot of musicians now, the way they have to sell what they do is to really be the face of it.

B: We post stuff that the algorithm hates. But it means the 50 people who do see it are actual, real fans.

K: It’s kind of like Tumblr in the sense that we’ll post the odd atmospheric landscape photo for you to look at in the middle of everything else – really magical looking stuff.

What should you absolutely never do at the table?

B: I think doing drugs at the table would be pretty disgusting.

K: I’m not someone who sticks to manners but I wouldn’t want someone to do a massive line of coke while we were having a nice meal. That would be depressing.

B: Save that for later. It’s a completely different form of consumption to eating a risotto.

What’s an object you cannot leave the house without?

B: I wear an amethyst necklace. I have a superstition that amethyst brings you good luck. Every so often it’ll snap and then I have to buy another one straight away. I don’t know if it works.

K: You are superstitious though, because if something goes wrong you think it’s because you don’t have the necklace.

B: I attribute a lot of the good stuff from the last couple of years to the necklace. Sometimes when I’m brushing my teeth and I’m looking at it in the mirror, I think, ​“You’re doing a good job.”

K: I don’t really have anything like that. My house is so full of weird stuff, so when I go out, I want to be free.

Can you recommend some music that FACE readers should absolutely listen to?

K: When we do shows, we book a lot of people who we think are really great but are quite under the radar.

B: There’s Bingoonler, Helica, cr00k6…

K: Ivy Knight, Mimics Gate. This guy Sean Armstrong put this album out when we lived in Glasgow, Totally Stupid Love, and we still listen to it now. It’s so good and quite unknown.

What’s the last interesting fact you learned?

B: The skeleton of a giant was found in the Thames. A long-legged man.

K: They also found a giant dog.

B: Yes, there was also a mythical dog. You can find these stories pretty easily if you type in the name of a town followed by ​“skeleton”. Like, if you’re from Orpington and you type in ​“Orpington skeleton”, something will come up.

What are Sundays for? You can’t say lie-ins or roasts or walks.

B: Treat Sundays as a religion. Don’t look at your phone. Every second you spend away from your phone is time well spent.

K: If we have a Sunday off, we’ll go to the seaside and go for a swim.

When’s the last time you fell over?

K: A year and a half ago, we were in the Lake District – to go on walks, decompress, that kind of thing. There were really loud RAF jets flying over the place where we were staying, and I was so excited to see them. I ran out in my pyjamas and one of the jets was suddenly like, one metre above me as it was turning. It was so loud and I could literally see into the cockpit. I thought I was going to be mowed down. So I turned around to run away and slipped on the wet slate, fell on my back and was completely winded. I couldn’t speak! It was so mad.

B: Mine is kind of boring. We were coming off stage once and I fell off. A classic exit.

If you were on a game show, what would your entrance song be?

B: I’d go for something really dreary like A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum, or Please Stay by The Cryin’ Shames. Something old and classic that sounds like it’s being played off a gramophone. I’d want to glide out. This show, in my mind, is being shot on a really old camera and is being projected in black and white. It’s like one of the first things you’d ever see on TV.

K: I can’t really imagine this ye olde game show. I’m thinking ofThe Weakest Link. I’d play Sky Fits Heaven by Madonna. It’s upbeat enough and has the right kind of production for a game show, but it’s quite mystical. The trancey bit – trance is good for game shows.

Can you leave us with some words to live by?

B: Life is a mystery. You’re learning everyday and just remember that you’re human.

K: Striving for perfection is a dangerous way to be. Go outside, find happiness in simplicity. Then if stuff goes wrong, it doesn’t matter so much.