So we’ve finally decided on a name. banana and louie. We hope you like it. One of us is banana, the other is louie. You have to guess which is which because we’re not telling you!

The ALO project is really moving along now. We’ve put woodwind and strings on and soon Kenny is coming in with his harp. It’s sounding really lovely. We’re getting pretty enthusiastic about 2012 now.

We’ll have the album out, we’ll be starting on some EPs and will be doing some gigs too. We can’t wait! 2011 has been a tempestuous year for so many reasons, but 2012 is already shaping up nicely.

We’re doing some more recording on sunday (mostly guitars/bass) and then return to the studio at the start of January, with more woodwind and strings.

We’ll let you know how it’s coming along.

In the meantime, a very merry christmas from banana & louie.xx

Last night was very exciting. We had a little rehearsal with A Little Orchestra up at Kilburn. We went through  most of the violin/viola string parts and it sounded gorgeous. Kenny had taken my demos and scored the strings from there, as well as arranging a load himself. He’s been incredible and has put lots of work in. I think we owe a few people a few very bog boxes of chocolates at the end of all this! ‘Caroline’ was my particular favourite. There is a bit at the end where the strings build and come in doing (I think!) sevenths and it all weaves together beautifully. I can’t wait to record it. We start doing the orchestral parts on monday and I can barely contain my excitement. It’s going to be so much fun.

I’ve been feeling surprisingly inspired of late, despite being a bit overwhelmed by the amount of life stuff I have going on right now (too busy!) I think after this project we’re going to put out a load more banana and louie records. I’ve been writing so many new songs recently. I miss the freedom of just being able to write some tunes and record and issue them straight away. We might do a series of EPs. We’re going to do some gigs too.

banana.x

B & L get going

We started recording at Studio Klank last night. Despite both me and Jake being knackered, we got the drums and acoustic guitar down for four songs and it sounds great. We’ll be laying down the rest of the drums tonight, then at the end of November A Little Orchestra will be squeezing in to record parts. It’s all very exciting. Here’s a picture of Jake, behind our improvised baffle..an upright piano! louie.x

It begins!

So excited!! Recording starts next week. We’ll be taking AFDFS drummer Jacob Chivers into the studio to start recording drum tracks and guide guitars. Then at the end of the month most of ALO will be heading into the studio with us to start putting down instrumental tracks. This is probably the most exciting and challenging thing we’ve done in music and we CAN’T WAIT to get going!!! Check back here, where I’ll be blogging all about how it’s going over the next few months.

b&l.x

Hello world!

So who are banana and louie?That would be telling. One of them is banana. The other one is loiue. That’s all you need to know right now.

Who are A Little Orchestra? A small, London-based pop orchestra led by Monster Bobby of The Pipettes. They formed in February 2010 and have around 10-15 members. They play a variety of instruments including violin, viola, bassoon, trombone, trumpet, clarinet and flute..both modern, minimalist classical pieces and original compositions, and also enjoy accompanying bands. Since they formed last year, they have collaborated with a range of indiepop singers, including Darren Hayman, The Pipettes, Elizabeth from Allo Darlin’, Pocketbooks, Shirley Lee of Spearmint and The Loves.

So what’s the plan? banana and louie have finished recording the demos for the album. The album works as a series of inter-linked songs that will hopefully come together as something like one piece. The tracks are being arranged by ALO and banana and louie, with Kenny from ALO scoring many of the parts.

Recording starts in November at Studio Klank and the album will be released next year on Vollwert Records.

Can we hear some? You can have a listen to the full demo below (please bear in mind that the vocals on this are very rough – just guide vocals that we recorded in one go – so forgive us if they get quieter and louder or out of tune!!):