The surreal, ambient universe according to Vaseline
The surreal, ambient universe according to
Vaseline
9 September 2026
17 September 2026
Riot and Enga Perry are sisters from Essex who make shimmering glitchpop at a pace that’s hard to follow so do try to keep up
Before they’d even released a song, Vaseline were booked to perform at a Frieze art fair takeover in London. It was the band’s fourth show. They ended up playing in a cage.
“The cage was fine… When we were in it,” says singer and songwriter Riot (not her government name), outside south London’s pleasantly shabby venue, Avalon Cafe. The daunting bit, says producer/singer Enga Perry (also not her government name), was sharing the space with their ensemble.
“We asked all these people to perform with us, not knowing the level of commitment they would put into it, and they really just sent it.” Her eyes widen. “One of them was a ballet dancer. Another one was hanging off the cage. There were two girls making out on the stairs with a spotlight on them. There was my Icelandic friend. She was on the phone in Icelandic, just… projecting.”
This eccentric, chaotic energy is typical of Vaseline. The sisters’ project has emerged from a strange corner of South London’s fertile underground, a place where squatters and art students form bands, collectives and side projects at a pace that’s hard to follow. Right now, Riot has two other bands – Riot + The Ether, and Keeper – and does solo stuff as Ditsy Gloom. Enga Perry was launched as a solo project last year, first appearing as a hologram at a show in which her friends performed as characters in the alter ego’s oddball world.
As for the Vaseline universe, it’s centred around two characters: Ditsy and Rabit. “They’re exaggerated versions of ourselves,” Riot explains, “and exaggerated versions of our dynamic as well.” She shoots Enga Perry a wry smile: “The most toxic parts of our dynamic.”
Debut single Shiny Things, released last November, is partly inspired by kids’ cartoon series Horrid Henry. The titular character is always finding himself in trouble, and always compared to his sanctimonious brother, Perfect Peter. “It’s just not fair… There are things you cannot see,” they sing in hypnotic harmony over shimmering glitchpop production. “Henry actually wasn’t naughty,” Riot argues, shaking her head at the injustice. “His parents just always acted like he was. It’s so deep.”
Before moving to Dagenham when Riot was 18 and Enga Perry was 16, the sisters were raised in Chadwell St. Mary, a small Essex village with no train station. They explain that trips to the nearby port town Tilbury, as well as to Southend-on-Sea during the winter, still serve as inspiration to the slightly eerie, surreal ambience of Vaseline.
“There’s an absurd reality where lots of things happen because no one’s watching or no one’s there,” Riot says. “So the neglect leads to something interesting. I feel like the glam also comes from Essex as well. Like this overperformative, trying to be hyper-feminine sort of glam.”
Upon moving to London, the sisters initially went their separate ways: Riot studied at Wimbledon College of Arts, while Enga Perry worked at a “hipster corporate” agency for three years while living at home.
“It was a lot of just bantering around,” she recalls, wincing at the thought of her ex-colleagues finding Vaseline on Instagram. A silver lining: she saved plenty of money while living at home, “so I was very free to do random shit” – ie, follow Riot down the arty path. What Riot and Enga Perry lacked in conventional musical skill, they made up for with conviction, taking inspiration from the fearless performance artist Charlie Osbourne, South London experimentalist Klein and maverick trip-hop legend Tricky. Now, Vaseline’s sonic palette is getting shinier. Their forthcoming tracks portray love, heartache and Essexian melodrama with telepathically aligned vocal melodies, elegant cello and piano loops, and metallic, pots ‘n’ pans percussion that recalls the mind-blowing textures of SOPHIE.
Riot and Enga Perry didn’t always have a lot of confidence in Vaseline – in fact, after the first couple of shows, they considered quitting. But the phone keeps ringing, there’s a debut album on the way and their ambitions are scaling up. When Riot reveals they’re manifesting Vaseline: the Musical, Enga Perry bursts out laughing. But you know they’re only half joking.
“We want to release an album in a way that’s quite dramatic,” Riot says. “Even though it’s music, I want it to feel like a movie.”