Duo After Land NME Cover After Debut Album 'Fell Asleep In The Sun'
US duo After — Justine Dorsey and Graham Epstein — have released their debut album Fell Asleep In The Sun and landed the cover of NME for it. The interview was conducted in a London hotel room, where the pair discussed the band's name, how they met, and the sample-heavy sound world behind the record.
From a Hinge match to a duo
Dorsey and Epstein matched on the dating app Hinge in 2021. They soon discovered they shared a taste for specific '90s and 2000s sonic textures, a similarly intuitive, emotion-first approach to songwriting — and, oddly, the same birthday: August 23, 1995. They never dated, but the connection turned into a creative partnership.
Their musical upbringings were opposites. Epstein's father was a serious music obsessive who exposed him early to Aphex Twin, Throbbing Gristle, Fountains Of Wayne, Teenage Fanclub and the video work of director Chris Cunningham. Dorsey went the other way, drawn to musical theater and confessional singer-songwriters like Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Regina Spektor and Taylor Swift.
From Michelle Branch to Silent Hill
The duo started out aiming for a Michelle Branch-style pop-rock sound before widening their palette to trip-hop, trance, ambient and post-hardcore. Epstein has written songs by playing riffs over drum loops lifted from the Silent Hill game score, calling the process a way of folding everything they love into one thing; Dorsey describes the result as feeling like a forgotten memory.
Epstein told NME they're chasing the moment a melody 'lands,' comparing it to the yearning quality of anime scores. Dorsey said listeners often feel like they've already heard the song before — which is exactly the effect they're going for, like a message from another life or another era.
The name and the songs
The name After was Epstein's idea, and Dorsey said yes immediately, drawn to the melancholy the word carries. Epstein admits the name is terrible for search results, but sees the challenge of building recognition with the simplest possible word as part of the point.
Among the standout tracks: '300 Dreams,' from the 2025 self-titled EP, evokes dreamlike adolescence, portable CD players and T9 texting; 'Promise (When You Go),' from the new album Fell Asleep In The Sun, is described by NME as sounding like it was lifted from the end credits of an episode of The OC. NME also notes that many of After's young listeners never personally experienced the optimistic future-facing mood of the millennium turn.