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Leeds’ electro-pop newcomers Kiosk deliver an enigmatic fusion of electronoise, darkwave and dream-pop. Distinguished by aloof vocals, analogue synths, hypnotic drum machines and heavily processed basslines, their sound channels the immediacies of PVA and Working Men’s Club, but darkened by the gothic mysteries of late 00s synth-pop.. I asked Kiosk’s Isabella Alcock (vocals, synths) and Rory ‘Maz’ Maslen (bass/synths) ten questions to uncover their synth-drenched secrets.

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THE ARGUS FAR FIVE

How would you describe the sound of Kiosk?

Maz:

Spacey soundscapey dream dance wave electro clash industrial techno noise. 

Bella:

3am at the club. Sometimes you’re dancing, sometimes you’re screaming and crying. Sometimes you’re throwing up, sometimes you’re throwing shapes. 

Maz:

I don’t like my answer anymore. 

What are your biggest non-music influences?

Bella:

Drinking one million beers, wearing huge sunglasses, Gregg Araki, guilt, shame and envy.

Maz:

Going to the cinema, the Alien films, noise from roadworks and planes and the sound of the engine at the back of the bus, friends’ art and artistic processes, Carlos Alcaraz.

If you had to cover any song and put a Kiosk spin on it, which would you choose?

Bella:

I’d love to continue the ‘Some Velvet Morning’ legacy but a lot of the covers would be hard to beat – I adore the Lydia Lunch version, and the Primal Scream one has got to be in top 10 sexiest songs ever.

Maz:

‘The Birmingham School of Business School’ by The Fall, which is my favourite Fall song. More microphone eating, harsh noise and sequencers, also featuring Alex Mulholland as Mark E. Smith: “wowowowowowowowowowoowwwoow”.

What is your earliest memory of music?

Bella:

There’s a video of me somewhere aged 3 or 4 dancing to ‘round and round the garden’ in a Brazil football shirt that came down to my knees and some wrap-around sunnies. As I grew up, I traded nursery rhymes for my first CD, ‘My Worlds’ by Justin Bieber.

Maz:

Gotta be my Dad playing blues on acoustic guitar and air-shredding the solo from ‘Whole Lotta Love’ in the car with sunglasses on. Unmatched aura. 

What does 2026 have in store for Kiosk?

Maz:

Hmmmmmm maybe we will play some more gigs and record some more tunes. Perhaps with DJ Subaru… Mayhaps announcements coming later this spring.

Bella:

Perhaps we will be whisked off to LA by some huge mysterious benefactor who lives in a mansion in the hills. Perhaps we will play The Old Blue Last in April. Perhaps we will go to France. Who knows what the future holds?

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THE KIOSK FIVE

‘Sure Shot’ is a bizarre spoken-word piece about driving through a desert. Do you write many stories other than for songs?

Bella:

The vocals for ‘Sure Shot’ were actually improvised in one take. I did a road trip through California and a bit of Nevada last year and the world suddenly felt far bigger than it ever has before – I thought this anecdote would fit the song well. I don’t tend to write many stories about other people or things I haven’t experienced myself; I’ve always found writing lyrics to be a bit of a release and they often end up being quite spur of the moment as opposed to that thought-through.

A lot of bands that I hear come out of Leeds are either garage or shoegaze bands. What’s the electronic music scene like there?

Maz:

It’s sick and getting better all the time. Big love DJ Subaru, Bathing Suits, Turnspit, Buffee, Cosmic Slop, etc etc etc. Guitar bands are slowly realising they’d all be much cooler if they kicked out their drummer and ditched their toys for real instruments like synths and laptops. Only joking ❤ 

Bella:

Leeds-tronica 

‘Heaven Sent’ and ‘Sure Shot’ started as one song before being refined into two. How did you come to the decision of splitting it up and deciding on each song’s subject matter?

Maz:

That idea came from Benny aka DJ Subaru aka our producer. We played her the original version and she was like nahh this is two songs g so we cut them up into the dance track and the originally more trancey outro which changed into ‘Sure Shot’. 

Bella:

Since ‘Sure Shot’ was originally just an outro section of ‘Heaven Sent’, the lyrics of ‘Heaven Sent’ were all we initially had. When deciding what to talk about on ‘Sure Shot’, reflecting on my time on the road in the US seemed to strangely pair well with the grief and soul-searching in ‘Heaven Sent’. 

In both singles you have released, your faces are hidden on the cover art. Was this a conscious decision, and if so, why?

Bella:

I don’t know if it was necessarily a conscious decision, I think in each cover we just wanted nondescript figures and the easiest way to do that was just to use our own bodies and cover our faces, not that it’s hard to tell who’s underneath!

Maz:

We see so much of ourselves and our faces all the time from gig photos and shoots and videos and stuff to the point where it can drive you a bit mental so enough is enough. The other faces (by Bo Colston) are arguably much better to look at repeatedly. 

Which area/building/place in Leeds inspires your songwriting the most?

Bella:

A lot of our songs are born in Maz’s living room, although lots of ideas come to me when I’m on nights out and I have to sneak a voice note or jot something down which is a bit embarrassing and makes me feel like a proper wet wipe.

Maz:

Also Wharf Chambers! One of the best venues in Leeds. Outside of writing and playing I always have the best and weirdest ideas for Kiosk and other projects zoning into harshnoise/experimental/weirdo sets at Wharf, big love Theo/Heinous Whining and Wharf crew. 

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