The London trio rest symbol’s debut album has an elusive swirl to it. At various points, it could serve as the soundtrack to a smoky basement bar or a le Carréian interzone. Though it fits into a larger lineage of hard-shadowed British downtempo, the record’s pulled-apart nature helps to move the music past the contours of trip-hop revivalism. It makes for excellent drizzly night listening, paranoid or not. We sent over some questions to the band. Read their answers and listen to the album, which was first released on CD in 2023 but today was issued on vinyl by the new Peak Oil sublabel FO, below. 

How did the band form?

Moli: I first heard Moreiya's voice improv in early 2018 at an open mic night in South and had to say hello, then we started working together in 2020. Once the album was laid out, I reached out to Wendy to join us and add the final touches.

How does rest symbol differ from some of your other projects?

Moreiya: rest symbol converges our different musical and artistic backgrounds at a specific place, where it's everything and nothing like we had done before and exactly what we'd been wanting to make.

Could you break down the physical presentation of this record?

Wendy: The cover is Moreiya’s art, she has beautiful visuals and she had a series of these distorted kind of psychedelic underwater videos, so it was a natural match to use a still from these and the visuals carried through as a storyboard for the record.

Moli: Then we asked Ovelia to design the record and she adapted a rest symbol for us to use. 

Do you want rest symbol to soundtrack a movie?

Moreiya: Yes! I feel like this album is already a film too—we all had strong visual apparitions in the process.

Wendy: Yeah, I’m pleased that’s been picked up on. When we were all producing the record it was very important for us to get the visual message across.

Moli: For sure, or a dance production.

Could you give us a look into your songwriting process?

Moli: For me, it's always changing, it's intuitive and organic. An example for “Ascending Shadow,” we responded to the word Sky.

Moreiya: Yeah, a fluid rhythm more than a process. 

Wendy: Then I come in and make noise at the end.

Are you influenced by any visual artists?

Moreiya: Definitely the intersection of some photographers and filmmakers … The condensed depth of painting has also been speaking to me lately.

Wendy: Not when it comes to rest symbol. I go into it pure and uninfluenced.

What’s your favorite place to get late-night food in London and why? 

Moli: Green Lanes lentil soup, open 24/7.

Wendy: I don’t really leave my house past 9pm ... But shoutout Rita’s!