GREAVES, CUNNINGHAM

Such a long artist bio for John Greaves (b. 1950), but in short, his primary instrument is bass, and the best known bands he has been a member in are HENRY COW and NATIONAL HEALTH. As a vocalist he came to my radar long ago on a charming National Health song 'Binoculars'. His voice is slightly reminiscent of another Canterbury stalwart Kevin Ayers, but with a dark depth similar to the Neo Prog figure Geoff Mann (Twelfth Night) or to the one who sang in the New Wave band Human League. As a musician he seems have some kindred spirit to David Sylvian (JAPAN, solo), not only as a vocalist.

After the collapse of National Health in 1982 John Greaves released two solo albums which were followed later by La Petite Bouteille de Linge (1991). The same year 1991 he made this collaborative album with David Cunningham, a Northern Irish producer and sound architect who as a composer approaches minimalism. On this album John Greaves sings and plays bass, keyboards and percussion. David Cunningham handles the production and plays guitar, treatments, keyboards and percussion. This music doesn't actually sound at all like what you'd expect in the Canterbury category. It's ambientish and introspective, minimalistically oriented, alternative/art rock. Spacey and tonally experimental. Quite timeless, ie. not recognizably from a certain period of time. Maybe the various modern King Crimson related collaborations serve as references, such as David Sylvian & Robert Fripp. That said, Jakko M. Jakszyck (guitarist in the modern times King Crimson) guests as a vocalist on three tracks.

Further references I come to think of include BRIAN ENO at his most introspective, and the Dutch art pop band NITS at their most minimalistic and experimental, on albums such as Omsk (1983), minus their humorous tones, though. Some vocal tracks -- there are plenty of instrumentals too -- may also bring the early 80's/latter day PETER HAMMILL in the listener's mind, mainly for the atmosphere. Mostly the tempo is slow and keyboards dominate the spatial soundscape. If my attempt to describe the nature of this music sounds promising, I believe you'll find this album very interesting and gratifying, definitely much more so than the obscure soundtrack Ghost Dance by Michael Giles, Jamie Muir and David Cunningham that I reviewed some while ago.