“I’m not a fool, no, I’m not a follower,” sings the silken-voiced Aluna Francis on the hook to AlunaGeorge’s “You Know You Like It.” The declaration of confidence is emblematic of the band’s blog-exalted exploratory pop grooves. Francis’ coolly refined crooning is complimented by producer George Reid, and the duo is riding high on a wave of British future pop that is steadily making its away across the Atlantic. While the pair is often mentioned alongside fellow Brits like Rudimental and their “White Noise” collaborator Disclosure, they occupy a more intimate space than their friends, citing downtempo instrumentalists like FlyLo, the electronic landscaping of Aphex Twin, and indie-cred idols Radiohead as major influences. (Francis even shouts out Aaliyah as a vocal style-icon.) The duo’s sparkly pop songs never reach too far out into the cosmos, instead falling somewhere between storytelling and down-to-earth self-reflection. “Our album is a reflection of a limiting space,” Francis tells us. “You either want to transcend out of it… or you want to revel in being in that dark, safe space.” Their debut album Body Music is a testament to the band’s breaking out while staying true to their own.

We talked to Francis and Reid on the day of their album’s release about the UK’s experimental pop scene, making “bedroom music,” and their upcoming tour.

THUMP: Body Music had a lot of pre-release buzz in the US. How do you feel now that it’s been released? Has there been any pressure to live up to the hype?
George: It doesn’t bring pressure in terms of the writing or anything. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves, naturally, to try to make something as good as it could be. You know how they say that everyone is their own worst critic—that’s always remained constant for us, same with the way that we’ve worked together.

Let’s go back to the origins of AlunaGeorge. Can you tell us how you met?
Aluna: George did a remix for my old band My Toys Like Me through MySpace. He found us through there. We tried to write some music together for my old band and that didn’t work. So we decided to put all preconceptions aside and just kind of write something new and discovered how to work together.

G: We had such a good time and liked what we heard immediately so we kept hanging out and writing music together. I’d come around once or twice a week and it became really, really fun just to write music together. After a while we thought it was time to see if anyone else thought it was any good.

How did you find Aluna on MySpace?
G: It’s really weird actually. I was on MySpace Music really, really, really early on. Right during the start of it. The first or second day I was on it, I was literally just scrolling through bands and saw Aluna’s and thought it was really cool. A few months later I was looking for a Van Morrison song and came across a cover they did of it and was really into that. Finally I saw that they were “band of the day” or something and knew I had to take a proper listen and just kind of messaged her out of the blue and asked her if I could remix one of the tracks.

What is your writing dynamic like?
A: We like to describe it as backseat driving. One of us will be working on something and the other one will have a listen and give input. The whole songwriting area is really split between us—there’s the melody, the tempos, the vibe that we both figure out together.

G: As far as the production or the lyric writing, they’re separate as far as what each of us focuses on but we do them together. We’ll literally sit in the same room; Aluna will put up with me as I make the most god-awful noise and sit with her notebook and write down words.

A: Usually when you’re writing music, George, I try to fit lyrics into the rhythms that I’m hearing from you.

G: We’re very comfortable at just hanging out and trusting that it’ll make sense in the end.

I’ve read that you write songs around stories that you’ve heard from friends; you translate them to song form. Can you give us a specific example, using “Your Drums, Your Love” maybe?
A: That’s more of a personal story for sure. “Attracting Flies” is really my friend’s tale of woe. Her ex had left her and was doing all this weak, rubbish lying. It was really obvious to us that he was lying but he was nevertheless trying to get back into her good books. I was just listening, not saying any of this stuff out loud. But when I got home it really stuck with me. It’s a metaphor, everything you write, right? So “Attracting Flies” is a reference to him and the rest of the song is about how I might speak to him getting into it from my perspective.

AlunaGeorge is part of this experimental pop wave coming out of the UK right now; with groups like Disclosure and Rudimental being so well-received at the moment as well. What do you think has sparked this and where do you see yourselves in context of that scene?
G: To pinpoint why this British electronic music is doing so well at the moment, I’m not too sure. There’s a lot of good music that happens to be coming out for sure. It’s a mixture of first-generation people who grew up with laptops as teenagers; instead of picking up a guitar they’re learning to make music on computers. I think that just happens to be the case at the moment.

Do you think that it could be in some sort of unconscious response to the other end of electronic pop music—the festival or EDM acts—that’s hit mainstream or radio levels of success?
A: This is a generalization but I don’t think that the musicians you’re talking about would listen to that kind of music, and it’s hard to make music in negative reaction to someone else’s music.

I don’t mean that it’s a reaction as much as a counterpart, perhaps?
A: I think that this comes more from an indie place, more left-field, more underground. I think that the David Guetta kind of music is even in the same realm. That’s the kind of music that certain people are aware of and listen to but the rest of us ignore it.

That said, acts from both ends are now playing at the same indie-meets-pop festivals. Coachella is a good example. I didn’t mean to imply that this was a negative thing! I guess George’s point that this is a generation that’s making music on computers is the underlying idea here.
G: Definitely and also it’s a small part of the equation. Who knows.

When you say that this comes from a more indie field, who are you taking cues from when making your music?
G: We would both definitely say Radiohead influenced us growing up. You can never underestimate those early, formative years of listening to music. For me they have great songwriting with amazing sounds; excellent guitars and Thom Yorke’s voice. As far as electronic music I’d say Flying Lotus, Aphex Twin, and those types that make these wonderful, beautiful noises.

A: I agree with George—those are huge influences. The fundamentals of pairing unusual sounds with something melodic and wonderful and human is, in a sense, what we’re doing. Obviously in a totally different way though; we obviously don’t sound like Radiohead. We like to do something obscure with something familiar.

I’ve heard you describe your sound as “bedroom music.” Did you start AlunaGeorge with that intent or did it evolve into that sound?
A: When George and I started writing we didn’t have any intentions at all. We didn’t have any rules or specific sounds or anything for the album. We just connected together works that had this similar through-line, though I don’t know exactly what that line was besides that it was this sonic understanding. We wanted to make sure the album could be listened to from start through finish without duplicating anything. We wrote the whole album in these enclosed, limiting spaces and the music is definitely a reaction to that space. You’re either trying to transcend out of it or embracing the small and safe aspect of it.

I think “White Noise” is one of my favorite dance tracks of the year. Having done so well working with Disclosure and Rustie, do you have plans to work with other producers?
A: We don’t have anything in the works at the moment. Collabs are a delicate thing! Sometimes you meet someone and the idea comes up but we don’t seek out working with other people. I think George and I are really content working with each other at the moment, but if I’d pick someone it would have to be Pharrell. The stuff that he has done doesn’t really have any boundaries which is something we respect.

How will you translate the album to a live show for the Body Music tour this fall?
G: Well, we have a lot more people on stage for the show. We have a really great drummer, a live bass player, and I’ll be on the keys as well. We have a lot of hands on deck for this tour and definitely do as much as we possibly can to make it a live show that’s as close as possible to the record. It’s tricky trying to translate electronic music to a live environment. It’s great fun with the live drums; it really brings the show to life. So much electronic music, in the live shows, it’s hard to figure out what’s going on onstage. There’s a lot of mystery of what the musicians are actually doing on stage and what’s being played. We want the audience to feel like they’re at a concert and give them something to watch and feel.

What songs are you looking forward to doing live? If you were to play your favorite song off the album in a DJ set, what would you play next to it?
G: For me, at the moment , my favorite song is “You Know You Like It.” If it was in a DJ set it would probably run quite well with something like “Flashing Lights” by Kanye West. They’re both very simple, mellow drum patterns and I think they’d flow well together. This is why I’m probably not a good DJ. [Laughs]

A: For me, “Outlines.” And, next to it, “Heartbeats” by the Knife. Or maybe “More Than A Woman” by Aaliyah.

Having performed at London Fashion Week and with Aluna being part of the fashion world to some extent, have you found that your love of fashion has translated into AlunaGeorge at all? What are your daily must-haves?
A: The one thing about our music; the fact that it’s quite clean and new sounding; it seems to soundtrack well to fashion. There’s definitely a weird crossover between fashion and music that has always existed, maybe not outwardly but it’s always there. For me I think I always need a pair of Nikes, there’s rarely a day that I can tear my feet away from some Air Maxs.

So comfort is key.
A: [Laughs] That’s totally what it is. I also always need a Calvin Klein bra.

G: Right now I’m struggling to go anywhere without any sunglasses. I have really, really sensitive eyes to the light it would seem. Maybe that’s what happens when you spend all your time in the studio.