Start Listening To: Domina

Minimal yet emotionally rich, this London trio find quiet intensity in restraint and childhood curiosity.

Formed in London, this emerging three-piece crafts music that feels both intimate and meticulously stripped back. Built on simple synth ideas and shaped by a conscious effort to reconnect with instruments they never formally learned, their sound is delicate but deliberate, as showcased on their debut single Apathy. Recorded at the Young Space in Dalston, the track’s dreamlike atmosphere and fragmented lyricism speak to a band unafraid of space, silence and subtlety. With their debut EP on the way, we caught up with the group to talk process, sonic minimalism and what comes next.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

We all met in London. Jude and I (Anders) have been friends for a long time, writing music together since we both met. We found Liv along the way - she completed the puzzle. 

Our music is quite minimal, stemming from simple ideas on synthesisers. The songs feel quite child-like, with us trying to reconnect with our process of writing, on instruments that we didn’t grow up learning. 

‘Apathy’ feels minimal and tightly controlled, but still dreamy and emotionally charged. Where did the track begin?

We started with a drum machine and bass part that plays this broken four bar cycle. The synth and guitar parts came later, playing against each other. 

The words came about from memories of conversation. I’ve written fragments of these dialogues and ordered them at random throughout the song.

There’s a beautiful sense of restraint in Apathy. Was it difficult to hold back sonically and let the space speak?

We don’t usually add more parts than what we would play on stage. The minimal set up lends itself to blank space - plus the synths we use are monophonic.

Broadcast and Stereolab feel like touchstones, but there’s something colder and more skeletal in your approach. Do you see your sound leaning more toward pop, or more toward experimentation?

We try to get a lot of different sounds out of the instruments we use. For example, the synthesiser organ has a really brutal mid-range and harsh sounding sustain. We re-amped the recording and tried different effects to change the sound quality. 

Out of this process usually comes with a lot of off-cuts of stuff we’ve tried that didn’t work - we usually take these and manipulate them into ambience or noise to blend into the background.

You’ve been recording your debut EP at the Young Space in Dalston. What’s that environment been like creatively?

We’ve really enjoyed our time there, everyone has been super kind to us. It was also nice to use equipment that actually works.

With the EP on the horizon, what’s exciting you most about what comes next?

We really like the sound of the EP, it feels like new territory for us. Our last few shows have allowed us to push those songs even further.