pencil is Kamran Khan (vocals, acoustic guitar), Dom Potts (bass), Thomas Fiquet (drums), Coco Inman (violin) and Soph Nathan (lead guitar). New bands rarely form later down the line, but as a circle of working musicians, pencil have converged to create and explore together.
Following the departure of dear friend, Cai Burns, pencil now welcomes new guitarist, Soph Nathan (Our Girl, The Big Moon). But there is continuity in this change: Cai and Soph both feature on new single ‘Wingman,’ a song about endings, beginnings and the contours of life between. Recorded with Polly Mackey (Art School Girlfriend), and mixed by Luciano Rossi (mui zyu), ‘Wingman’ signals a ceremonial passing of the torch.
Once it became clear that Cai would be leaving the band, pencil considered long-time friend Soph as his potential replacement; coincidentally, Cai had already done the same. ‘Wingman’ was written before the situation arose, but it has been primed for release partly because it echoes this serendipity. The song speaks to the ideas of loss, yearning and the eventual, reluctant acceptance that something is over. It is this nostalgia in real-time that forms the bittersweetness of ‘Wingman.’
With a new lineup and a new single, pencil will still be riding the crest of a wave of exciting London bands bringing back a sense of romance and melodicism. Gracing festivals and venues across the UK and Europe with their ensemble synergy, pencil has built a reputation as an enthralling and unmissable live act. The band played packed-out shows at Green Man and The Great Escape before releasing music.
In October 2023, the quintet went big with their arresting début single, ‘The Giant,’ spotlit by a billowing violin arpeggio and the bare grace of its vocals: Clash called it “bold, uncompromising artistry.” The success of their first Moshi Moshi release took pencil out on a shimmering tour with The Japanese House. Following up with the melancholic groove of ‘The Window,’ pencil won further appeal and support at the start of 2024. And, shortly after So Young praised the “understated majesty” of the second single, the band also secured a showcase 6 Music Session with Marc Riley.
In May 2025, pencil unveiled a six-track EP, Bohemian Clutter. Taking inspiration from Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf (a line from which provides its title), it channels the oneiric uncanniness of the novel. Exploring the gauzy line between reality and fantasy, Bohemian Clutter continues a sense of melodically introspective worldbuilding. The band completed the main tracking for it in a single afternoon with Mackey, decorating the live recordings with her before it was mixed by Rossi. The EP opens with an invitation to hold ‘The Pencil:’ an evocative single which flows and surges with the stirring patterns that hallmark the record. Pensive, sincere and lusciously elegiac, Bohemian Clutter encapsulates the collective songwriting and textures of pencil’s sound.
pencil is ready for everything that is to come in 2026. More stages await. And with a new single, personnel changes, a recent EP and an alchemical live reputation, the band’s dreams are alive to the dawning future of a statement album.