GRRL x Made of Oak

A decade ago, Nick Sanborn and James Mapley-Brittle were having very different trips in North Carolina’s surprisingly fertile electronic music scene. Sanborn was (and is now) the instrumental half of Sylvan Esso, his exploratory and addictive pop duo with partner Amelia Meath; he is the one buried behind a web of sandy brown hair, lording over a bank of modular synthesizers and sequencers. Mapley-Brittle, meanwhile, was just emerging as GRRL, his highly textured and kinetic solo electronic project built on big but elastic rhythms, where samples and sequences seem to bubble up from between the beats. Still, Sanborn (playing solo as Made of Oak) and Mapley-Brittle found themselves bumping into one another at local parties, sharing spaces, sets, and, turns out, a love for eruptive and ecstatic club music.

Several years ago, they decided to try turning that shared enthusiasm into a track they could both play in their distinct sets. That turned into an ongoing project, simply known as GRRL x Made of Oak, responsible for two acclaimed EPs and a colossal 2025 single, “Hardcore (VIP).” On that track, relentless synth stabs set the table for a beat as heavy as construction boots on a wooden floor. The sound cuts like lasers through a fog-filled nightclub. The chemistry between Sanborn and Mapley-Brittle becomes even clearer live. During their great 2022 set for Boiler Room, they shifted between lumbering sequences and lucid textures, as if occasionally letting the heat of the beat burn off like steam from a power plant. Sanborn and Mapley-Brittle have taken their duo to Bonnaroo and Switzerland; they now bring it to Big Ears.