The Big Pink

The Big Pink are an English electronic rock band from London, consisting of multi-instrumentalists Robertson "Robbie" Furze, Akiko Matsuura and Charlie Barker. Initially a duo, they signed to independent record label 4AD in 2009 and won the NME Philip Hall Radar Award for best new act. To date, they have released five singles, with their debut album A Brief History of Love released in September 2009 and its follow-up, Future This released in January 2012. History Beginnings and early singles Robertson "Robbie" Furze and Milo Cordell started working together as The Big Pink in 2008, taking their name from the debut album by The Band. Furze used to play guitar for Alec Empire and run the record label Hate Channel with Cordell. Cordell (son of Denny Cordell and brother of Tarka Cordell) had also been releasing records through his own label Merok Records, which featured early noise rock releases by Klaxons, Titus Andronicus, and Crystal Castles. After joining forces in mid-2007, the band issued their first single "Too Young to Love" on 7" vinyl in October 2008 on the House Anxiety label. The single was limited to 500 copies worldwide, and features a homoerotic photograph by Dennis Cooper as its cover. Similarly, a limited edition 12" single for "Too Young to Love" released only in Japan features more of Cooper's photography as its cover. The Big Pink signed with British record label 4AD in February 2009. On 25 February 2009, The Big Pink won the prestigious Philip Hall Radar Award for best new act at the NME Shockwave Awards. The duo were presented the award by James Allan and Caroline McKay of Glasvegas, who had won the award in 2008. In April, 4AD issued the duo's first single for the label, "Velvet," which Pitchfork Media described as "undeniably immense, but it's a tribute to the Big Pink's skill and maturity that it still manages to sound intimate", and awarded the track a 7 out of 10 rating. The single was again produced by the band and mixed by Alan Moulder. A 7-minute remix of "Velvet" by Gang Gang Dance followed as an online-streaming single. The Big Pink provided a cover of "Lovesong" for The Cure tribute album Pictures of You: A Tribute to Godlike Geniuses The Cure, which was made available with the 25 February 2009 issue of NME. Following the releases, the duo opened for TV on the Radio in Europe before embarking on their first headlining UK tour.