BENT - video clips, songs, albums online

Bent are an electronica act from Nottingham in England, consisting of Neil "Nail" Tolliday and Simon Mills. They gained critical acclaim from their debut album Programmed to Love in 2000. The duo were initially noted for their ability to create their own mischievous style of recordings by sampling their private record collections (which they have themselves referred to as "dodgy"). On the 2003 single "Magic Love" they sampled a Toni Tennille performance. Nana Mouskouri is one of the artists they have sampled the most so far. Another notably sampled artist is the Canadian singer Anne Murray, whose song "Just Bidin' My Time" is heavily used for the lyrics of "Leavin' Me". With the release of 2004's Ariels, Bent took a sharp turn into live-based recording using predominantly original material. 2006's Intercept! saw the duo taking a step back into the style reminiscent of the first two albums, although adding a more discoesque touch. Their prankster-ish reputation is reprised with the track "Stay Out All Night", in which the sole lyric (repeated twice) is "People who are afraid of the dark send their children to bed and stay out all night". Following the relative hiatus of the band (there have been no official release since the "Best of" in 2009), both Nail and Simon Mills have maintained a musical activity of their own, Simon Mills heading a solo project called Napoleon, with a self-titled first album digitally released in 2011, very similar to early Bent in its delicate blending of soft electronic music and vintage samplings. A second album is expected in 2013.