Dimly Lit

After a three-year hiatus, founder Neils Children members John Linger and Brandon Jacobs played shows with original bassist James Hair, focusing on material from their 2003–2005 period.

Without Hair on board (who decided against further band work in favour of building up his homemade food business) Linger and Jacobs decamped to Toulouse, France to record an album's worth of new material as a two piece, sharing the instrumental duties of drums, bass, guitar, percussion and keyboards between them.

The material differs from the band's previous work and focuses on much more melodic instrumental parts, performed on vintage synthesizers and keyboard sounds such as Roland Juno, harpsichord, mellotron and hammond organ whilst sidelining the importance and prominence of guitar.

Bands such as Stereolab, Broadcast and Silver Apples have been noted as being an influence on the album, which can be heard in the drum patterns, keyboard lines and vocal melodies, as well as in the production of the songs which feature strong use of spring reverb, valve amplifiers and tape delay.

The short, hauntology-esque vignettes between various songs also bear resemblance to releases from the Ghost Box record label, such as those by The Focus Group and Belbury Poly.

After the recordings were completed, the pair recruited former Strange Idols guitarist David Smith and French musician Syd Kemp (on keyboards and bass respectively) to form the nucleus of the current live band which have played exclusive one-off shows in support of the album.

It was announced that in July 2013 the group would play as part of the East End Live festival line-up featuring Toy, The Monochrome Set and Pere Ubu among others.

[3] The album has received widespread critical acclaim from various important music publications such as Q Magazine, Loud and Quiet, Louder Than War, Artrocker and Shindig!

[18] The album Dimly Lit was recorded within two weeks with engineers John-Michel Cros and Ayumu Matsuo, and was mixed back in London by Factory Floor and These New Puritans collaborator James Aparicio.

The album also features Amy Turnnidge of Theoretical Girl and Bonnie Carr of Electricity in Our Homes on vocals on "Edward the Confessor" and "The Beat of the Boulevard" respectively.