The UK’s poshest pop group widen their social circle and bring to life another collaboration you might never have guessed would ever happen. It might not work on paper, but you don’t listen on paper, dammit. Ears say yes. Or they would, if they could talk. (Stop now – Ed.)
Who are Clean Bandit?
Grace Chatto, Neil Amin-Smith and brothers Jack & Luke Patterson met as students at Cambridge University. Two of them were in a string quartet together, and their first hit was a Mozart remix. A good one, nevertheless, but who would have guessed then that Clean Bandit would clean up in mainstream pop? “Rather Be” bridged the classical-pop divide, with a 30-piece orchestra recording the version which has been the signature tune for posh-popular supermarket Marks & Spencer for the last year and counting. The song also sold over a million copies in the UK and won a “Best Dance Recording” Grammy.
They’ve recently been busy bringing together a wide range of people who want to work with them to make the pop crossover magic happen. They have remixed The Weeknd, Jack U with AlunaGeorge and Flume with Tove Lo. Now they have recorded their own tunes with X Factor’s Louisa Johnson and more – stories suggest everyone from Elton John to Zara Larsson.
They seem unphased by Neil Amin-Smith’s recent departure, but look at the queue forming outside the door.