Liverpudlian indie pop four-piece Clean Cut Kid formed in 2014. Fronted by husband-and-wife team Mike and Evelyn Hall, they started out as a duo before meeting bassist Saul Goodman and briefly rehearsing as a trio. In November 2014, Ross Higginson joined on drums and the band's lineup was complete. Even as a youngster, Mike was fixated on music, spinning the Beatles Blue and Red albums, along with Michael Jackson's Dangerous, on his Walkman, and eventually taking up the guitar in his teens after his father gave him a battered acoustic with only three strings. His penchant for classic pop permeates the band's own music that is characterized by unabashedly romantic lyrics and infectious melodies. They started their career with a series of singles, starting with "Runaway" and "Vitamin C" in 2015. The influence of Fleetwood Mac, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, and Paul Simon served them well, as they were signed to Polydor after playing only their second show. Following their single releases, Clean Cut Kid's debut album Felt appeared in 2017. The following year saw the band release the Painkiller EP, along with the standalone single "Deafening." ~ Bekki Bemrose