THEIR music isn't exactly the kind of thing you'll hear in any bar or nightclub in Bermuda. Only because they don't conform to the usual reggae, dance hall, R&B and hip hop, but instead deliver an electronic hybrid of styles.

1undread is made up of husband and wife duo Brian and Nicola Swan, who have been performing together for close to ten years.

They say their influences are drum and bass, acid jazz and trip hop, as well as the music you hear in the local scene. The result: A bass-heavy, mind-twisting sound complemented by Mrs. Swan's bluesy vocals.

Mrs. Swan, who likes to be called Nic, worked as a DJ and belly dancer when the couple met in England ten years ago, while Brian is a music programmer who also works as a music teacher at Warwick Academy.

"Brian is an easy person to work with. He writes music very quickly then I come along and improvise the vocal parts. Most of the recordings are the first or second takes," she said.

Her husband added: "I like the raw emotion of the performance. I think that a lot of music is over-produced and loses the soul and the feeling that music should have. When I write music it flows from me. A lot of the edits are done as I record so there is a hands-on, soulful feel to the music, even though it's electronic."

Mrs. Swan considers herself a bit of a "style flipper" and says their music can be described as a "very strong drum and bass with a twisted type of trip hop, funky reggae soul dub".

1undread released a new CD earlier this month and decided to go high-tech by making it available on online sites iTunes, Rhapsody and eMusic.com.

It was here that Billboard Publicity Wire picked up on the band and predicted the couple would "revolutionise the world of electronic music".

Since then they've been invited to perform at Horseshoe Bay, the Botanical Gardens during Volcanic Productions' happy hour, and more recently at Astwood Park's picnic in the park.

When asked what type of reception they get from the crowd, Mrs. Swan said with a laugh: "Terrible! It has taken about four or five performances, event at Chewstick, for people to go, 'Okay, they know what they're doing' because we're not using hand-made wooden instruments performing on stage.

"We are very different and I think sometimes people look at Brian on stage and wonder what he's doing up there because the group box does all the work.But Brian is playing the group box as an instrument and everything in there is put there by him.

"A group box is basically a device which stores all the music Brian produces at home using various instruments, his computer and his imagination.

"I programme loops from the drums up. It's basically layered sounds," he explained.

When asked why they don't work as part of a conventional band, Mr. Swan replied: "I am a bass player and have played with bands in the past, but bands come and go and you have to rely on people ¿ with Nic it's just the two of us."

He said he also didn't like conforming to the so-called traditional, but boring way of producing music: "Why do you want to narrow your range?"

However, the couple agreed that there aren't enough venues for local bands to perform at and ultimately make a name for themselves.

"The worst thing about the music scene here is that you can't get any gigs. We were in the situation about two years ago when we had an acid jazz type of band with some local musicians. But people wanted us to pay to play at their venues," he said. "But in the UK you go down to the local pub and they charge people at the door and you have a gig. Even in Canada as a student, you didn't have to go into debt to play at a gig.

"The system we have here is quashing musicians. There are a lot of young kids and, being a teacher at Warwick Academy, I see kids coming up, some doing jazz, a lot of singers doing R&B and rappers, but there is nowhere for them to play."

Even 1undread's decision to make their music available online wasn't necessarily by choice, but more out of necessity after local music stores turned them away ¿ simply because their CD didn't appear professional enough with cellophane wrapping and the all the extras.

"It costs so much to produce a CD. With all the equipment we could be writing CDs until the cows came home, but you have to print the labels or you can send them away and you get a minimum of 100 or so and, from experience with our type of music, we know we are not going to sell that many," Mr. Swan said.

"But with iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic.com and napster, we can put our tunes online and we have automatic international distribution."

The couple even dropped their CD off at the local radio stations, but felt that because they're not playing the genre they didn't get the publicity they were hoping for.

"We went to HOTT 107.5 last year and we gave them a CD and I went back to see what they thought and Thaao Dill said he loved my CD, but he couldn't play it because it wasn't their style of music," Mr. Swan said, with obvious disgust.

"But you listen to radio stations like the BBC, and they play all types of music because it exposes everyone to as many different influences as possible.

"It's not an excuse! We have killed off our own culture. How can you have a Bermudian radio station that doesn't play Bermudian?

"And when they do play Bermudian, it's just the music that's imitating the American stuff.

"And yet a lot of the stuff we play is influenced by local hip-hop, dub, reggae and dance hall. We just take it a step further."

In an effort to try to get more exposure for local music, the couple are competing tonight against 14 other bands at Snorkel Park for the opportunity to win a mobile distribution agreement and record deal.

Winners of the CellularOne and Swagger Wireless "battle of the bands" competition will receive a $5,000 publishing deal and trip to New York to record the winning single.

See also Walter's World on page 18