Bicep

London-based dance duo Bicep first gained attention through their blogging efforts prior to establishing themselves via extensive live performances, a series of club successes, and two albums that reached the U.K. Top 20. Their studio work merges garage, house, breakbeat, and further styles into euphoric tracks built expressly for club play. Early acclaimed singles appeared on Throne of Blood, Aus Music, and the duo’s own Feel My Bicep imprint, which secured a Ninja Tune agreement and the 2017 release of their breakthrough debut album Bicep. After worldwide touring, the pair delivered their follow-up album Isles in 2021.

Childhood friends Andy Ferguson and Matt McBriar grew up in Belfast. From their late teens onward they collected vinyl and performed as DJs, drawing inspiration from disco, Chicago house, Detroit techno, Italo-disco, and related analog sounds; this led them to launch the music blog Feel My Bicep. The site served as a platform for their wide-ranging dance tastes, personal mixes, and re-edits; after relocating to London they began performing at venues throughout the city. As the blog’s profile rose—with guest mixes from Simian Mobile Disco, Ben Sun, and Ooft among others—they refined their production abilities, resulting in the 2009 12-inch “Strawberry,” a re-edit issued on Citizen Kane’s Ghost Town label.

Wider notice arrived with the 2010 12-inch “Darwin” on Throne of Blood, the label co-owned by the Rapture. Early backing from Beats in Space host and DFA associate Tim Sweeney helped the track top online retail charts and earn XLR8R’s most-downloaded song of 2010. Bicep also placed 313 on Traveller Records. The exposure generated international DJ bookings, a further Throne of Blood release titled the Silk EP, and 2011 remixes for Blood Orange, Tal M. Klein, Medlar, and Cosmic Kids. That year they also began a monthly residency at London’s Plastic People. In 2012 they channeled their affinity for 1990s New Jersey house into the vinyl-only 12-inch “$tripper” on Love Fever Records and supplied remixes for Blondes and Chamboche.

Later in 2012 Bicep joined Ejeca and Omar Odyssey for the You/Don’t EP on Aus Music, run by Will Saul and Fink, and launched their own label, Feel My Bicep. Its debut release, the duo’s “Vision of Love,” became a club favorite and received a remix from Detroit’s Carl Craig, issued as a 12-inch on Kevin Saunderson’s KMS label. They further teamed with Simian Mobile Disco for “Sacrifice,” released in 2013 on the latter’s Delicacies imprint.

Additional club successes followed, among them “Satisfy,” “D-Mil” (with Midland), and especially “Just,” which Mixmag and DJ Mag both named track of the year for 2015. The duo transported their Feel My Bicep events to clubs and festivals worldwide while expanding from DJ sets into live concerts that drew large audiences. In 2017 they signed with Ninja Tune and prepared their first full-length album. Titled Bicep, it was previewed by the singles “Glue” and “Aura” before arriving that September; the record achieved both critical and commercial success, peaking at number 20 on the U.K. album chart. Four Tet’s remix of the album track “Opal” appeared in 2018, and the pair issued the Rain EP.

Over successive years the debut’s tracks were reshaped for live presentation, acquiring new dimensions in performance. Preparing their second album, they described the studio versions as intended for home listening, conscious that the material would evolve once taken on the road. The April 2020 single “Atlas” began a sequence of releases leading to the January 2021 arrival of Isles, which debuted at number two in the U.K. and reached number 12 on the Billboard Electronic Albums chart. Bicep earned two BRIT Award nominations, for British Group and Breakthrough Artist, and headlined the 2021 Field Day Festival. Further singles “Meli (II)” and “Water,” the latter featuring Clara La San, arrived in 2022.