piri & tommy

Manchester-based dance-pop duo piri & tommy craft energetic garage and drum'n'bass tracks whose lyrics center on relationships and partying. A 2021 single titled "soft spot" turned into a viral sensation, after which they issued further material such as the 2022 track "words" and the mixtape froge.mp3. Joint and individual projects kept going, resulting in the 2024 arrival of their EP about dancing.

Sophie McBurnie, performing as piri, and Tommy Villiers began collaborating musically once their romance started. Villiers had already been producing drum'n'bass since age 17, and the pair discovered common ground through artists including Disclosure and Kaytranada. They wrote material that reflected their dance-music tastes while drawing lyrics from their own relationship. The disco-tinged "it's a match" came out independently in 2021. Their next effort, the liquid drum'n'bass cut "soft spot," caught fire on TikTok and earned them a contract with EMI. U.K. garage pioneer MJ Cole supplied a remix, and early 2022 brought the summery "beachin," later reworked in abstract fashion by Skream. The two-step number "words" and the atmospheric "on & on" preceded the October release of their debut mixtape froge.mp3, with "unlock it" following shortly afterward.

Early 2023 saw the pair confirm that their romantic relationship had ended the prior November, yet they carried on creating music together. The MJ Cole collaboration "Feel It" appeared alongside the hyperpop-flavored "updown," and April brought "nice 2 me." While piri worked with additional artists such as Maisi, Higgo, and salute, piri & tommy put out "lovergirl," "bluetooth," and "christmas time." The duo self-released the EP about dancing in 2024.