Olly Hite and Samuel Carter-Brazier were writing songs together under the name ‘Carter & Hite’ when Hite’s father showed him an aged wooden trunk full of possessions once owned by his great-grandfather, Percival Elliott.  

“Percival Elliott was a right old eccentric, always travelling,” Hite said. “He would go missing for days on end, but no one used to worry. He would always return with fresh ideas and inventions. My grandma did say once he believed in time travel. I just love that about him. He had one of the first ice cream emporiums in Brighton built on Weston Road. He imported coffee beans and sold one off bespoke inventions, brass telescopes, old wind up mechanical music boxes, engraved glass ice cream bowls, old Toffee hammers... It goes on and on.”

Carter-Brazier remembers Hite bringing over an old doctor’s bag full of Elliott’s possessions. It was in that moment that they knew their musical endeavor should be named after the legacy left behind by the late Percival Elliott.

Originally, both worked for an antique dealer and spent decent portions of their days travelling. It was Carter-Brazier that made their mix tapes for the road, opening Hite’s musical tastes to beyond his background. It didn’t take much time before they were playing music together.

“One of my fondest memories of writing with Olly is when he and I lived in his empty shell of family home whilst in the middle of a conversion,” Carter-Brazier said. “We would stay up all night drinking homemade beer and writing tunes until the sun came up. We’d then go to work then do it all over again the next night.”

They both share a fondness for any genre of music; they constantly share new tunes with one another, citing Spotify as the “holy grail of music exploration”. It explains why their upcoming album, Save Your Soul, engages in a multitude of musical influences.

“We want to tap into the listener; try and engage with their heart music-wise,” Hite said. “Beach Boys meets The Verve. The Beatles meets Elton John. Father John Misty meets Neil Finn. Queen meets Super Tramp topped off with a bit of Neil Young…”

“The album is a unique patchwork quilt of influence and taste,” Carter-Brazier adds. “One minute we’re crying over past love and the next we’re serenading the lost, recalling tales of cats and adventures at sea. It’s a real mix bag of sounds and influences. We’re extremely excited to release her on the world.”