A FOLK duo from Bournemouth is leading the way in voice technology after they became the first UK band to release a voice-activated app.

Michael Dale and Tom Harrison, who make up ‘I am the Cold Man’, met and formed the band whilst studying for a masters in radio production at Bournemouth University.

The duo joined forces with voice design agency Opearlo to launch the joke-telling app for the Amazon Echo and Amazon Dot products.

Band member Michael said: “We’re delighted that our skill was able to bring a bit of added festive cheer to households across the country this year.

“Hopefully, our cheesy jokes can keep the festive cheer going into the New Year and help put off those January blues.”

Jess Williams, CEO of Opearlo, said: “We were excited to build a skill for I am the Cold Man, and help them become the first UK band to do so.

“The joke-telling app was great fun to make and proved to be very popular, with 225 users engaging with it on Boxing Day alone.

I am the Cold Man was bidding to reach Christmas number one with their single ‘Christmas Dreams’, which they hope will raise as much as £10,000 for a leading cancer charity after being viewed over 18,000 times on social media.

One of their supporters has pledged to donate £1 for every download the song receives to Prevent Breast Cancer.

Tom, who performs vocals, piano and trumpet, said: “Although we didn’t make it to Christmas number one this year, we are very proud to have helped put festive songs back on the agenda and are grateful to the thousands of people who have listened to ‘Christmas Dreams’.”

“The fact that we were able to spread the festive cheer, whilst also supporting a worthy cause, is fantastic and we hope when the final totals are added up we will have raised a lot of money for Prevent Breast Cancer to help them continue the amazing work they do.”

Prevent Breast Cancer, formerly known as Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention, is the UK’s only charity dedicated entirely to the prediction and prevention of breast cancer.

You can watch a video of the band demonstrating the skill, ‘Christmas cracker jokes from I am the Cold Man’, at www.youtube.com/watch?