Biography
In 1993 the British duo Insides entered the scene with Euphoria, an atmospheric collection of ambient pop pieces built around delicate guitar textures, meticulously layered rhythms, and candid verses exploring closeness and inner conflict. Critics responded warmly to the singular record, which continues to resonate with dream pop enthusiasts, and the pair have issued occasional new material since, most recently the 2021 album Soft Bonds.
Kirsty Yates, who handles vocals and bass, first joined forces with guitarist and programmer Julian Tardo in the shoegaze and dream pop outfit Earwig. That group issued four EPs along with the 1992 full-length Under My Skin I Am Laughing before calling it quits. Seeking a more hypnotic and emotionally direct approach free of heavy distortion and standard verse-chorus forms, the two adopted the name Insides, aligned themselves with 4AD’s Guernica subsidiary, and unveiled Euphoria in 1993, earning favorable notices from outlets such as Melody Maker. The following year they released Clear Skin, a slowly unfolding minimalist instrumental originally written for a London performance where the duo opened for themselves. After departing the label they remained largely inactive for several years until signing with 3rd Stone and returning with Sweet Tip in 2000, an album whose brighter blend of bossa nova, R&B, and jazz-pop marked a clear departure from their prior style.
Following that release Insides again withdrew from view while Tardo spent much of the next two decades producing and engineering for acts including the House of Love and Fear of Men. The duo later signaled plans to resume working together, culminating in a 2016 video for “Ghost Music,” their first new song in sixteen years. They have also supplied remixes for Now, Fujiya & Miyagi, and Memory Drawings, and in 2019 Beacon Sound brought Euphoria back on vinyl as a fresh audience began to explore the duo’s catalog. Their fourth album, Soft Bonds, arrived in 2021, extending the close-knit atmosphere of Euphoria toward a modestly more abstract terrain.
Kirsty Yates, who handles vocals and bass, first joined forces with guitarist and programmer Julian Tardo in the shoegaze and dream pop outfit Earwig. That group issued four EPs along with the 1992 full-length Under My Skin I Am Laughing before calling it quits. Seeking a more hypnotic and emotionally direct approach free of heavy distortion and standard verse-chorus forms, the two adopted the name Insides, aligned themselves with 4AD’s Guernica subsidiary, and unveiled Euphoria in 1993, earning favorable notices from outlets such as Melody Maker. The following year they released Clear Skin, a slowly unfolding minimalist instrumental originally written for a London performance where the duo opened for themselves. After departing the label they remained largely inactive for several years until signing with 3rd Stone and returning with Sweet Tip in 2000, an album whose brighter blend of bossa nova, R&B, and jazz-pop marked a clear departure from their prior style.
Following that release Insides again withdrew from view while Tardo spent much of the next two decades producing and engineering for acts including the House of Love and Fear of Men. The duo later signaled plans to resume working together, culminating in a 2016 video for “Ghost Music,” their first new song in sixteen years. They have also supplied remixes for Now, Fujiya & Miyagi, and Memory Drawings, and in 2019 Beacon Sound brought Euphoria back on vinyl as a fresh audience began to explore the duo’s catalog. Their fourth album, Soft Bonds, arrived in 2021, extending the close-knit atmosphere of Euphoria toward a modestly more abstract terrain.
Albums
Singles
