Saturday night and Sunday morning; the sacred and the profane. These are the creative spaces of Kieran Brunt and Matt Huxley, aka Strange Boy.

Strange Boy's music inspires choral ecstasy as well as dancefloor communal hedonism in full rhythmic flow, fusing the clear call of Brunt's classically trained vocals with Huxley's electronic soundscapes. It's a potent mix that has spawned a collaboration with Bedroom Community's best known Nico Muhly, experimental producer Clark, the London Contemporary Orchestra and Wild Beasts producer Richard Formby for their latest EP How Come That Blood, out on Grönland Records.

They met while bowling in Glastonbury in 2011 and bonded over their mutual love for Joanna Newsom. They moved to London in 2015 after studying classical singing and composition.

Disillusioned with the often elitist hierarchies of classical singing, Brunt had turned to the world of songwriting, drawing on his love of storytellers such as The Magnetic Fields, Rufus Wainwright and Anohni. Combining the narrative drive of these artists with the grandiose symbolism of his choral training, Brunt created impressionistic lyrics that could accompany Huxley's atmospheric soundscapes. "Strange Boy was always about putting Kieran's voice at the forefront against an electronic palette," explains Huxley. "We combine the songwriting with references from dance music to create something between a pop song and art music."

The two began a back-and-forth, with Brunt writing demos before sending them to Huxley for production, which eventually resulted in their 2017 debut EP, Annunciation. The name Strange Boy comes from a name singer Beth Orton passed on to Huxley one hungover morning. Annunciation's four tracks combine deftly chosen synth textures with Brunt's crystalline voice. The songs surged through warm, blooming melodies while underscored by the eerie, metallic chill of Huxley's electronics.

"We did everything ourselves," explains Brunt. "Annunciation and our next EP, 2018's Suburbia, were self-released and very experimental, fusing our traditional musical backgrounds with the exuberant, modern experiences we had growing up."

After Suburbia, the pair's collaboration was kept on the back burner as they moved on to other musical pursuits - notably Brunt's leadership of vocal group Shards and Huxley's work in film, theatre and TV composition. Having expanded their musical experience, the process for a new EP began in early 2020 - the first offering that would invite outside collaborators.

"This is the first time we've brought other people in and realised the full power of collaboration," says Brunt. "The time we've taken to work on other music has meant we've accumulated so many more skills. By bringing others in, we've been able to refine our own ideas and ultimately this feels like the perfect realisation of the Strange Boy project."

Nico Muhly, a friend of the group, wrote lush string arrangements for the EP's four tracks, all of which were performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra. "Nico's strings take the music to a new place," says Brunt, "I love the opulence they bring. There's a contrast between my voice, which is quite pure, and the electronics, which are gnarlier and more experimental. The strings are like a glue between these elements."

The EP opens with Eating Anna's Rabbit Delicious, a song that embodies what Huxley calls Brunt's "fun, sexy and visceral" lyrics. The title comes from a delightfully strange Instagram caption Brunt stumbled upon, and the song is packed with sparkling harmonies. "It's set at a dinner party where someone learns of a celebrity's death," Brunt explains. "It's quite tongue-in-cheek, playing on optimism and a sense of existential darkness." Huxley adds that it's "a hazy summer tune that appeals to a sense of nostalgia," pointing to cheesy dinner party sound effects like swirling ice in a glass that add to the playfulness of the lyrics.

This is followed by How Come That Blood, the EP's title track, where angular strings build over arpeggiated synths, creating a cinematic splendor that goes on endlessly, like the light of dawn that never fades. "I'm interested in telling two stories at once, using an old story to explain a new one," says Brunt. "How Come That Blood" is an old folk song, but I rewrote the melody to make it a dialogue between a police officer and a teenage undercover human intelligence source - basically a child spy - that questions the ethics and often the violence of that relationship.

The penultimate number, Collector, is a composition that the pair have been reworking over and over again in recent years. A downtempo breather on the EP, Brunt was thematically inspired by the book of the same name by writer John Fowles. In his melodic minimalism, Brunt explores the themes of obsession and dangerous masculinity contained in the book. "I present a grotesque figure to ask the listener: what reminds you of yourself?" he says.

The EP's closing number and ecstatic highlight, Sunken Cathedral, was additionally produced by Clark, who lends the track his experimental ear to heighten the sense of digital overwhelm. "The song is about a relationship that no longer works and is a metaphor for the breakdown of political and social relationships around the world," says Brunt. "I ask: how did we get to this situation? What happened?" The piece's lyrics, which draw on the imagery of a grandiose cathedral crumbling and falling apart, mirror the musical build-up, with strings and a thumping bassline moving in and out of focus, like disintegrating ruins.

Ultimately, as the amorphous presence of Strange Boy, Brunt and Huxley have created a sound world that inspires communion - with ourselves and with something ethereal. With plans for an album next year and a tour to follow, Strange Boy's visceral storytelling experience will be one not to be missed.