Akine is an indie band from Kyiv, Ukraine, now based in London. The lead singer Nicole grew up in France where she stayed until she decided to dropped out of school at 16 and move to Ukraine where both her parents are from and work on music. There she connected with local musicians and started working on demo versions of her first EP. Meanwhile, her sister who was also her manager at the time got in contact with a British recording studio, this then led to working with a British label and a European tour. After the pandemic hit she felt like she needed to reassess the sound of the project. The band shifted from being a more pop-oriented project into the realm of indie and rock. Then on the 24th of February 2022 when Russia attacked Ukraine and began a full-scale war Nicole decided to leave Kyiv. She moved back to France for several months where she was joined by Nastia, who would become the Akine’s guitarist. They became close and eventually moved to London together where they slowly assembled the rest of the band: bassist Slava, also Ukrainian, and drummer Jamie, their only British member.