The pandemic has brought about a home-studio boom

By H.B.

LIKE OTHER non-essential businesses, recording studios around the world have gone quiet during the pandemic. “This place is normally just buzzing with music out of every room,” says Viv Broughton, the owner of The Premises, a studio in Hackney, London, which since 1986 has worked with artists as varied as Nina Simone and the Arctic Monkeys. “To hear it silent and empty is horrible,” he says.

Many musicians will be eager to return to these spaces—not to mention live-music venues—and fill them with noise once again. In the meantime, they too are working from home. On April 24th Kali Uchis, an American singer-songwriter, released “To Feel Alive”, a four-track EP which was recorded in a makeshift studio in her bedroom. On May 15th Charli XCX, a British pop star, released “How I’m Feeling Now”, an album written and recorded in lockdown at her home in Los Angeles. She consulted her fans on the lyrics and shot videos in front of a green screen in her basement.