Carrolls aren’t the first band to collaborate across big geographical distances (the Postal Service notably worked that way, even the new Taylor Swift record was made via email), but they are perhaps singular in having not physically met for well over ten years.

Andrew Pankhurst and Rob Kennedy are two cousins, hailing from West Yorkshire, now separated by the 430 miles in between Stirling, Scotland and Tooting, London respectively. Both are active musicians – Andrew plays in the dream-folk band Constant Follower and Rob in the indie rock band Under The Arches, but both bands ground to a halt in the wake of Covid lockdown in March.

With Rob effectively shielding following a kidney transplant a few years back, the housebound tedium led him to throw himself into a variety of musical projects, including remote live sessions with Under The Arches and collaborating on covers with friends. On a bit of a whim, he dropped his cousin Andrew a message to ask if he fancied doing a cover. He sent back a batch of original ideas – guitar parts that felt like songs in waiting – interesting and solid structures, but lacking melody and lyrics. Emails started to flood back and forward, and within a few weeks the 5 songs on the Peer Review EP were completed.

“It came together really fast,” says Rob. “The tracks gave me ideas on first listen, and within a few weeks we had most of the songs fully structured. It’s odd not to be able to get into a room and thrash things out, but in some ways it was really exciting to work this way. Every time my phone
buzzed, there was another part of this puzzle falling into place.”

Andrew put the speed of the creative flow down to latent family bonds. “Me and Rob and our brothers and sisters were really close as kids. Even though we didn’t see each other every week, when we did get together we were thick as thieves, and there’s all these golden memories from that
time. Somehow I think that made a huge difference to this project – there’s some sort of connection that’s still there, and it has been amazing to reconnect through this.”

Andrew fleshed out the bare arrangements of vocal and guitar, with some additional guitar, bass and occasional drums to create the finished EP, which blends a range of musical styles from the C86 style jangle pop of the lead guitars with shades of shoegaze and dreampop textures. Rob’s soulful, sweeping vocals take centre stage, with introspective lyrics ruminating on parenthood, adulthood and childhood memory. Fittingly, these links back to the past provide the inspiration for the band’s name.

“All of our shared experience together relates back to being at our grandparents house together. That was the nucleus for all the time we ever spent together. Carroll was their surname, and as it’s derived from a word
for song or hymn, we just thought it was a nice tribute to them.” Rob explains.

Despite the uncertain times we are living through, the duo hopes that the project will eventually lead to an ‘in-person’ reunion. “It would be great to get out and play the songs live at some point“ says Andrew.

“As great as the collaboration has been, it now feels somehow more odd that we haven’t been in the same room in the last decade. Let’s see what 2021 brings.”