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Second Person is a London-based three-piece consisting of singer/pianist Julia Johnson, producer/bassist Mark Maclaine, and drummer Alvaro Lopez. Combining elements of hip-hop, electronica and jazz, the band has over the five years of its evolution developed a unique sound. Against a lush soundscape of dark synths, quirky bass-lines, intricate beats and haunting piano riffs the lyrics explore the darker sides of love, loss and human error. Some call it post-trip hop, others simply call it very sophisticated pop music, and for many it is unclassifiable.
An audio-visual project by nature, Second Person places great emphasis on its music videos and is deeply involved in their creation and direction. Over the years the band has composed scores for several feature films and contributed music to many short films and television programs. They incorporate visual media into their live performances and are passionate about playing live, often performing with special guests and working hard to communicate the emotions and contrasts inherent in their music.
Full Biography:
In late 2001, singer Julia Johnson and producer/bassist Mark Maclaine met, and early the following year formed the band Second Person. They spent the next two years writing material and playing gigs with a variety of musicians. Drummer Alvaro Lopez was recruited in mid 2004 and Second Person's debut album Chromatography was released later that year. It went on to sell out of its initial white-label run in the United Kingdom, USA and Australia. The band went on to record a live DVD at The Bedford in London and score music for a number of British broadcasters, including the BBC and Channel 4, and became one of the main suppliers of music for The Extreme Sports Channel.
In 2005 Second Person were finalists in the Glastonbury Unsigned Competition, coming in the top 24 bands from 1600. They also wrote widely for short films and features, contributing songs and composing original scores, as well as working solidly to refine and develop their sound and material.
The following year Second Person met, and began working with Tony Platt, the legendary producer and engineer whose extensive credits include Bob Marley, Iron Maiden and AC/DC's Back in Black, the second biggest-selling record of all time. The band joined SellaBand.com, an international site that uses the principles of crowd-sourcing to enable fans to invest in bands of their choice. Second Person became the first UK band to raise the $50,000 target (achieving this in just over 5 months), and worked with Tony Platt to create a 5-track EP entitled 'The Elements'. This was released in August 2007 and features trumpet by Guy Barker and UK scratch champion Muzzell. 'The Elements' is inspired and informed by the five Chinese elements and each song in due course will have its own accompanying animated video; the five videos will run together to create a 20-minute short film telling the story of a little girl's adventures in a mysterious and surreal world. The first video, 'Wood', which has just been completed, has already been playlisted by MTV. Second Person's success on SellaBand has generated a considerable amount of media interest; they have played at every SellaBand concert so far – the most recent one was at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in front of 1500 people.
Second Person has written a follow-up, full-length album, which will be entitled 'Come to Dust'. The band will continue its policy of having a video for every song (though they will be individual pieces), and many are either completed or in pre-production. The exceptional video for 'Gone Fishing', directed by Katy Davis, has already been shown on MTV and was used extensively as part of the Cobra Beer sponsorship of films on ITV, ITV2 and ITV3. Second Person also wrote and directed a live-action video for another song, 'Spilt Milk', shot on Super-16mm, and are currently working with Ebba Erikzon (director of Radiohead’s '2+2=5'), Mina Song (Gnarls Barkley’s 'Crazy'), Everton Sebben (Fat Boy Slims live visuals director), Ben King, Susan Luciani and many others.