Northern Kind

Matt Culpin and Sarah Heeley first met in Leicester, 2001 through indie pop project Minithin.

In 2006, Matt pondered producing some new music and whilst clearing out his mobile phone book stumbled across Sarah’s number. In less than a year they recorded their first album as Northern Kind.

53 Degrees North topped album and download charts across Europe, gained the band a passionate following in the UK and won them prestigious dates supporting Gary Numan and a string of gigs alongside 80s greats including Midge Ure, Boy George, Howard Jones, Paul Young and Kim Wilde.

(Assume there have been some ups and downs and a few dodgy gigs in between) Their second album, Wired, mastered by Simon Heyworth (Tubular Bells) is hailed as “one of the most important electronic albums of the year” by Gareth Jones (Producer, Depeche Mode) and quickly secures them a UK tour with pop legends Kajagoogoo.

A year later and the duo, known as NK by an army of electro-mad fans (NKers), now has what we will politely describe as some ‘creative down time’. ‘Berlin’ refers to a revered support slot at Postbahnof with the formidable Alan Wilder (Depeche Mode) and Gary Numan during the Recoil – A Strange Hour international tour. Meeting musical heroes including Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk certainly gives Matt some food for thought…

2013

Fast forward to 2013, and NK headline the inaugural Silicon Dreams Festival alongside the legendary Heaven 17. Their third album, Credible Sexy Unit, is launched to critical acclaim. It feels very, very good and NK are producing some of their favourite and most refined electronic music yet. Euphonic (song for Chloe) and Dreams are released on iTunes and the response so far is exciting to say the least.

2014

As we move on to 2014, a change of opportunities and life events mean that Sarah leaves the NK project to be replaced by Charlie Sanderson (of Electrobelle). A new chapter for NK begins, with a few treats in store…