i-N Session: Binary

Binary are the London four-piece bounding onto the scene with lo-fi electronics and atmospheric tones.

Released next month by Luv Luv Luv Records, Prisoner is the debut track from Binary. Combining pop melodies, guitar hooks and industrial-inspired electronics, the track has already gained notable hype. Mixed by Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails collaborator, Sean Beavan and with artwork by Ciaran O’Shea, the band are set on creating a powerful sound with a unique aesthetic. i-D online spoke to lead singer David Troster and added the quartet to our i-N Session roster!

Before forming Binary you were studying molecular biology at Yale University, what fuelled your decision to leave and start making music? Yale was a very intense place. I enjoyed it, but when everyone around me started becoming lawyers and doctors or whatever, I wanted to take some time off and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I moved back to London and began writing music, I played a few demos to a friend and then it all developed from there. I was introduced to Francesco (guitar and keyboard) and we started experimenting with production techniques and making songs.

What was it like working with Sean Beavan? After we finished recording, we wanted someone with a heavier musical background to mix the track. The song doesn’t have lots of distorted guitars, screaming vocals or anything like that, but we knew that it had a sort of frustrated anger which we wanted to bring out. We’re big fans of The Downward Spiral and Antichrist Superstar albums, so asking Sean to mix was a very natural choice for us. It was a tremendous privilege to work with someone whose work you greatly admire.

You’ve worked with Ciaran O’Shea and Camille Bennet on the artwork, who else would you like to work with in the future? We’re massive fans of the video artist Nicolas Provost. I saw some of his stuff at the Haunch of Venison last year and was completely blown away. There was one particular series called Long Live the New Flesh where he took clips from various horror films and layered them on top of each other. He then degrades the footage with this weird visual distortion, so all the film cells just morph together. It’s pretty incredible. We would love to do some stuff with him.

What can we expect in the future? Bigger and better things.