Two of London’s most naturally intriguing artists have come together for an immersive, quietly thrilling three-track EP.

Neither BODUR nor Coby Sey walks into a room without a plan. The pair had admired each other’s work for years before a mutual friend set up a brunch in East London last year. It turned into four hours of politics, relationships and digging through vinyl at a record shop round the corner. Both arrived with discographies. BODUR’s debut album MAQAM used the centuries-old Arabic maqam system to explore identity, ancestry and displacement, and her SECOND LANGUAGE project grew out of a 28-hour durational performance at the V&A East Storehouse. Coby, meanwhile, has spent over a decade as one of London’s quiet connectors. He’s a founding member of CURL, hosts a long-running show on NTS, released his acclaimed debut Conduit on AD93, and has worked closely with Mica Levi, Tirzah and more. 

So it says something that “BOX OF TRICKS”, their three-track EP, came together without any brief at all. Their first session, just the two of them at Coby’s studio, produced “Again”, built on lyrics BODUR had written alone in Berlin. His praise for them quietened the imposter syndrome that comes with working alongside someone you’ve admired from a distance, and set the tone for everything that followed. Collaborators Harvey Causon and Gabriel Gifford widened the circle later, with Gifford producing “Leave” and the title track.

The songs move through youth, class and lost chances “Box Of Tricks” started life as a stream-of-consciousness poem about war and displaced children, which BODUR reshaped into a nursery rhyme borrowed from the magpie verse her Nan recites around London. What comes through is two artists who’ve spent years shaping London’s experimental scene, choosing to trust each other’s ability to curate. 

Below, BODUR and Coby Sey unpack “BOX OF TRICKS”.

Listen to the EP…

Read the interview…

You’d been circling each other’s worlds before you met – tell us a bit more about that first meet-up and how it drew you close enough to co-create an EP down the line.

BODUR: I tend to work with friends more than anyone else, it’s more comfortable for me and I feel easier expressing myself openly with them which usually leads to much stronger work. So it was really nice to build a foundational friendship with Coby before getting in a room to make music together. Who I choose to collaborate with is never solely based on talent but on who they are as people as well. I have no interest in working with really talented dickheads. But Coby is a gentle soul with a calming presence, his nature as sweet as his tone. I knew from that first meeting that he’s someone I can spend the hours required with to make some great music together. 

Coby: I think Chloe and I realised mid-way our first ever conversation in Brick Lane that we have very similar tastes in music and art – and that we’re both interested in simply having go and to do it in person: to start a conversation through music, try some ideas, some people, myself included, use the word ‘jam’.

From there, how did the early developments of “Box Of Tricks” begin, both conceptually and creatively? 

BODUR: With previous projects of mine like MAQAM or Second Language, I had a clear intention and concept mapped out before making any of the music. But for this project with Coby I didn’t have any preconceived ideas and it just all happened naturally. I guess because it’s my first fully collaborative project, I didn’t want to overly curate it but simply allow space for both Coby and I to bring ourselves to the project without any restrictions or responsibilities to fulfil an ideal. We made ‘Again’ in our first session together; just the two of us at Coby’s studio. He was complimentary of the lyrics I’d written for it previously by myself in Berlin, which gave me a lot of confidence. As I’ve been a fan of Coby’s for a while, it can feel imposter-syndromey sometimes, but he made that go away quickly. We fleshed that one out together with Harvey Causon some months later, who shares a studio with Gabriel Gifford – who produced Leave & Box Of Tricks with us. It was an extremely seamless and easy process. 

Coby: We decided on a place and time to meet at my studio in Lewisham and we began to create music. I played and recorded keyboards; BODUR selected some sections of this and wrote and sang to it. This led to the bare bones of the track “Again”, which we later worked on with Harvey Causon several months later. A few days after the initial session, BODUR arranged for us to meet again with Gabriel Gifford at his studio. Within this one session, came the title track “BOX OF TRICKS” and “LEAVE”. It was all very smooth. Chloe’s got it!

The EP covers the themes of youth, lost chances and life as one box of tricks after another. Is there any personal context attached to those narratives?

BODUR: Definitely. The more time I spend in this industry and the further I get into it, the more I realise how impossible it is for working-class people to survive in it. People talk about nepotism online every day but are quick to dismiss things like, ‘Oh yeah they come from extreme wealth, but their parents aren’t directly involved in the industry, so it doesn’t matter’, but it does matter. To be successful in an industry like this, you have to be completely delusional, and it’s easy to stay delusional if you’re awarded the privilege of doing it full time from the age of 16 because you didn’t have to work a second or third or fourth job just to live. When I was working with a label, it was easier, but now I’m completely independent. I’m like – who in London has thousands and thousands of pounds to spare on producer fees, mixing, mastering, artwork, videos, PR, radio plugging, ads, etc every few months you’re expected to release? You have to invest in yourself a lot, and it’s easier to do that when you have a safety net you know will always be there. Without one, it just feels like you’re playing Russian roulette with your future. Every artist I know is losing money touring; natural virality is a myth, as it’s all just paid for, streaming pays you crumbs, and so we’re all just out here relying on brand deals to subsidise us – which you miss out on if you’re too outspoken about politics and global atrocities. So it’s bleak! I fear a music industry full of apolitical rich kids is our inevitable near future, sadly. 

Coby: It’s a lot!

You were side by side at Di Petsa during London fashion week. Where does style sit in what you each do? 

BODUR: The first time creative director @parti_blu styled me it was life-changing. I’d never had access to clothes like that before and it made me appreciate the craftsmanship of couture in a way I hadn’t before, but Blu is also a stylist not solely reliant on designer goods. Watching her work with whatever random garments were around, attaching earrings to straps, spray-painting boots different colours, taught me how to be resourceful when it came to fashion. Me and Blu became great friends that have done a lot of projects with a £0 budget together since. Styling does a lot of the heavy lifting in getting me into character; it’s like mental armour for me. It’s a transformative process I have to go through for anything public-facing like performances, shoots, etc. There’s a mental difference between who I am as Chloe and who I have to be when I’m Bodur, and styling helps me hugely with that mental shift I have to go through. Nobody ever believes me, but I’m actually naturally a very shy person; styling helps me pretend not to be.

Coby: Style sits in there alongside substance. I think about both and not overthink it. It’s one of those ones. 

BODUR, your acting debut is later this month in the stage adaptation of Tice Cin’s Safe Spaces at the Southbank Centre. What drew you to it, and how does it feel to step into someone else’s story?

BODUR: When I read the blurb of the book – about a young Turkish musician in London balancing Universal Credit appointments with chasing her dreams and looking after her family I thought, is this play about me? lol. It’s uncanny how familiar that story sounds to my experience a few years ago, navigating my early 20s. I went to drama school full time before switching to pursuing music, so acting isn’t uncharted territory for me. She’s done the training, babes! I only stepped away from it because a lack of diversity in the industry at the time meant there wasn’t much opportunity for me to audition for good roles. Having authors like Tice Cin step to the forefront of the literary world is amazing though, she’s kicking down doors and shouting to those of us like her to follow behind her. 

You’re both multidisciplinary, moving between sound, image, performance and more. Does “musician” still feel like the right word for what you do?

BODUR:  Yeah it’s the biggest part of what I do still, I’m playing piano, drums and singing on this EP. When I’m introducing myself, I say I’m an artist or a music-artist but I still wear the ‘musician’ badge proudly. 

Coby: Yes. I approach everything that I do ‘musically’.

Now that it’s out in the world, what do you hope someone feels after hearing the project for the first time?

BODUR: Inspired. 

Coby: For sure, inspired. Something/anything, not nothing.

Lastly, what’s a record that changed the way each of you think about making music?

BODUR: Nick Hakim’s Green Twins.

Coby: Prince’s Batman soundtrack.