R I T U A L

London-based outfit RITUAL crafts minimalist, heartache-driven R&B that folds in faint traces of folk and hip-hop. The collective has co-written and produced tracks for Avicii, Aquilo, Dua Lipa and numerous additional artists. Producers Adam Gross and Tommy Baxter established the project before singer Gerard O'Connell came aboard; vocalist Mononoke later rounded out the quartet. Guest appearances on their recordings, including the 2017 album No Escape Out of Time, have come from Denzel Curry, 6LACK and Skizzy Mars.

The group first surfaced in 2014 via the independently issued EP The Fall. Blog attention prompted a deal with Island Records, which issued the follow-up EP From the City to the Wilderness in 2015. Shortly afterward arrived the remix collection From the Wilderness to the City, an effort that spotlighted the act’s hip-hop leanings. The 2016 single “Cinnamon” paved the way for the EP Every Night Another But Not You. Later that same year the track “Bottle Tops” introduced guest vocalist Mononoke—real name Katie Taylor—who then joined as the band’s fourth member. Their debut full-length, No Escape Out of Time, surfaced in 2017 and included the singles “Exit” and “Drown the Lovers.” In 2019 RITUAL initiated the ongoing Dreamers Never Learn series with the single “Love Me Back,” which featured Tove Styrke.