09/25/2026
Sequential Artist Spotlight: Art School Girlfriend
London-based, Wrexham-raised artist and producer Art School Girlfriend (Polly Louise Mackey) recently released her third album ‘Lean In’ via Fiction Records. Armed with the freedom and space to experiment, ‘Lean In’ was self-produced in her own East London studio and sees Art School Girlfriend set to move from cult bedroom artist to one of the UK’s most vital artist/producers. Last year, Art School Girlfriend shared ‘LYATT’, a shoegaze and techno-tinged meditation on love quickly followed by ‘The Peaks’, which was recently added to the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist.
"Ten years ago, my self-produced demos found their way into the hands of Paul Epworth through one of his engineers, JHJ. I had never used an analogue synth before, I was making everything in the box in my bedroom. Paul had recently set up The Church Studios and his record label Wolf Tone. He invited me to use the studio on downtime and finish self-producing the demos. He was the first person who told me I could properly produce and those demos turned into my first EP. I got to use those studios for around 7 years in total, and during that time I graduated from bedroom producer to studio producer. There’s a whole section of Studio 1 called ‘synth city’ where all these incredibly historical synths are stacked up ready to go. There was an Oberheim Matrix 12 that I used all over my second EP, Into The Blue Hour. I also fell in love with the Dave Smith / Roger Linn collaboration drum synth Tempest, which I used for all the rhythms on my self-remixed EP. There was a Prophet 12 around for a while that was used heavily on my first album."
Photo Credit: Zak Watson
Full interview can be read below:
Photo Credit: Zak Watson London-based, Wrexham-raised artist and producer Art School Girlfriend (Polly Louise Mackey) recently released her third album ‘Lean In’ via Fiction Records. Armed with the freedom and space to experiment, ‘Lean In’ was self-produced in her own East London studio and...