We speak to Fé about busking, working with Luke Smith and performing their dreamy, summer-tinged debut track, ‘Time.’

Making it in the music biz can be hard, and most rush into the scene without thought of consequence. But not Fé — the chilled out duo took their time busking the London tube and developing their sound. We talk to the London boys about their methodical rise in the musical ranks and debut track, ‘Time.’

What lead you guys to start making music together?

We used to meet up at a rehearsal space/car yard where Leo was living. We both had no money so started busking together.

You spend a lot of time busking on the London Underground, what responses do you get from the public to your music?

Pretty much every response imaginable. We’ve been assaulted — because we don’t do requests — we’ve had people cry, people follow us, people demand we get off the carriage with them so we can come do a gig at their house immediately…it’s a mad arena to play music in. Mostly though, people are really appreciative and generous, and ask us why we’ve never been on The X-Factor.

You’ve both worked on your music for a few years now, so has this allowed you time to develop your own musical style?

Definitely. It happened pretty naturally and without us noticing it in the last year. We had a group of songs we felt were good enough to spend a lot of time on and go really deep with.

Getting the right balance between the analogue and electronic aspects of recording our songs has been key to developing our sound.

Why do feel that now you’re ready to break out into London’s music scene?

That relates to the last question because once we got the music sounding exactly how we wanted it, we knew if was time to play it to other people. We don’t think it had much to do with what was happening at the moment in the London music scene. Our belief in the songs meant that we’re not too worried about what the current trends are.

Starting out as a new musician can be hard. You lived without running water and heating for a time, was there a point when you considered taking an alternative more secure avenue?

There aren’t too many secure avenues at the moment job-wise, so music seems as good as any.

Your debut single, ‘Time,’ was produced by Luke Smith who’s also worked with Foals and Depeche Mode. What was it like working with him?

It was phenomenal. Luke is all about channeling the vibe, he managed to collect all the music we’re into, all our different influences, and everything about us, into the track.

He made us believe in the importance of performance. Raising our game. That the recording process should be a magical experience — that you’re doing something really special.

It was exciting because the deeper we went in the studio with him the fresher the tracks started to sound. There was a lot of trust involved in the relationship.

How important is being able to create music to you both?

Really important!

Who would you love to collaborate or work with?

No one but The Edge.

Where do you hope the future takes you?

We haven’t played any shows yet, so we’re really excited to start playing these songs live. It’s gonna be great to play our first show and see how people respond.

Words: Wil Oxford