Irma Vep

Irma Vep channels the raw neo-psychedelia of Welsh guitarist and songwriter Edwin Stevens. Long embedded in Manchester’s D.I.Y. community, he later relocated to Glasgow, established the cassette imprint Very Bon, and has drawn on Dylan Hughes, Kiran Leonard, and Dave Rowe for live support. His first Irma Vep release, the 2012 album Haha, appeared as a fully self-recorded effort. Over subsequent years he refined studio techniques while retaining a garage-rooted approach, culminating in the sixth Irma Vep studio album, Embarrassed Landscape, which surfaced in 2020.

Stevens has also played with the Manchester groups Sex Hands, Desmadrados Soldados de Ventura, and Yerba Mansa. After the self-contained Haha, he issued two additional hazy, lo-fi psych-folk albums in 2013—Deep Sea Fish and No & Awkward Positions. The May 2015 EP Disappointment introduced tighter song structures and clearer sonics, whereas Live at the Quiet Music Festival of Portland, issued that December, documented a solo set from Oregon the previous June. Early 2017 brought No Handshake Blues, a co-release from Manchester’s Comfortable on a Tightrope and Brighton’s Faux Discx on which Stevens and frequent partner dbh (Daniel Bridgwood-Hill) handled every instrument. Following his move to Glasgow, he recorded Embarrassed Landscape for Gringo Records with earlier associates Ruari Maclean and Andrew Cheetham.