Cyclobe (1999–present) are a music duo formed by Stephen Thrower and

Ossian Brown Ossian Brown (born 3 April 1969, London, England) is an English musician and artist, most notable for being a member of the groups Coil and Cyclobe. He joined Coil in 1999 and remained with them until the band’s cessation following the dea ...

. They make hallucinatory electronic soundscapes by mixing sampled and heavily synthesized sounds with acoustic arrangements for a variety of instruments including

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a v ...

border pipes The border pipes are a type of bagpipe related to the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe. It is perhaps confusable with the Scottish smallpipe, although it is a quite different and much older instrument. Although most modern Border pipes are close ...

duduk The duduk ( ; hy, դուդուկ ) or tsiranapogh ( hy, ծիրանափող, meaning “apricot-made wind instrument”), is an ancient Armenian double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood. It is indigenous to Armenia. Variations of ...

and clarinet. Their approach draws upon diverse forms, including

acousmatic Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word ''acousmatic'', from the French ''acousmatique'', is derived from the Greek word ''akousmatikoi'' (ἀκουσματικοί), which referred to probationary p ...

drone music Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harm ...

sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or Musical composition, compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as Photomontage, ...

, folk and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

Background

Thrower and Brown met in the early 1990s through their mutual association with Coil. Thrower joined Coil for their first album in 1984, he left in 1993 (having worked on the albums Scatology, Horse Rotorvator and Love's Secret Domain) and went on to form the experimental trio Identical, with Gavin Mitchell and Orlando. All three members of Identical worked as The Amal Gamal Ensemble, alongside other musicians including David Knight and Karl Blake of Shock Headed Peters. Thrower is also a film journalist and author of "Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci" and "Nightmare USA". He appeared in several films by

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...

including The Last of England and Imagining October, as well as co-writing the soundtrack to The Angelic Conversation. Ossian Brown worked with Coil from 1999 until the band’s cessation following the death of

John Balance Geoffrey Nigel Laurence Rushton (16 February 1962 – 13 November 2004), better known under the pseudonyms John Balance or the later variation Jhonn Balance, was an English musician, occultist, artist and poet. He was best known as a co-found ...

in 2004. Appearing on several albums, and performing live both as Time Machines and Coil at The Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican in London and numerous venues throughout Europe. He is also the author of "Haunted Air", a book featuring anonymous Halloween photographs from c.1875–1955.

Music

The first Cyclobe album, ''Luminous Darkness'' (1999), veered between hard-edged electronic music,

Musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, wit ...

, Industrial, and acoustic interludes for piano, strings and woodwind. They were joined on several tracks by Calina De La Mare (violin) and Niall Webb (bass clarinet). Next came ''The Visitors'' (2001), again featuring De La Mare (violin), alongside Sarah Willson (cello) and Coil’s

Thighpaulsandra Timothy Lewis – best known by the stage name Thighpaulsandra – is a Welsh experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist, known mostly for performing on synthesizers and keyboards. He began his career working with Julian Cope in the late ...

(production). Although still assaultive at times, ''The Visitors'' developed a warmer, expansive sound, with lush atmospherics and harmonic complexity. A third album followed in the form of a collaboration with Nurse With Wound, called ''Paraparaparallelogrammatica'' (2004). Cyclobe took their ‘remix’ of a 40-minute Nurse With Wound composition to the extreme, mostly obliterating the original. With contributions from David Tibet of

Current 93 Current 93 are an English experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet, who has been Current 93's only constant member. Background Tibet has been the only cons ...

, and Coil members/collaborators Thighpaulsandra and Cliff Stapleton, the result was complex electroacoustic psychedelia, completely individual but very much in sympathy with Nurse With Wound's methods. Ossian Brown played on the

album "Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain" (2009). Stephen Thrower recorded "The Temporal Bends", a CD that was released in collaboration with David Knight under the name UnicaZürn, featuring a rare performance from the artist and musician Danielle Dax. In 2010 Cyclobe released the full-length album "Wounded Galaxies Tap at The Window" on Phantomcode records. On this album Ossian Brown and Stephen Thrower worked with guest musicians Thighpaulsandra, Cliff Stapleton, Michael J York and John Contreras. The albums centre piece being the 17 minute epic "The Woods are Alive with The Smell of His Coming", a track that was premiered at the Tate Gallery in St Ives. at the exhibition "The Dark Monarch - Magic and Modernity in Modern Art". The front cover artwork to "Wounded Galaxies" was created by the American artist Fred Tomaselli and the insert artwork by the artist Alex Rose. Alex Rose went on to create the front cover artwork for Cyclobe’s "The Eclipser/The Moths of Pre-Sleep" single which was also released that same year on Dot Dot Dot Music. Ossian Brown's first book "Haunted Air" was published in 2010 by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

, with an introduction by

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

and an afterword by Geoff Cox. In 2012 Cyclobe released "Sulphur-Tarot-Garden", soundtracks to three films by the film maker and artist Derek Jarman. This release was a limited edition CD to celebrate their debut live appearance in London at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which also saw the premiere of these three films with Cyclobe's soundtrack.

Live

Cyclobe's first live performance was held in Krems, Austria in April 2007 at the Donau Festival, curated by David Tibet from Current 93. Cyclobe's line up for this show was Ossian Brown, Stephen Thrower, Cliff Stapleton and Thighpaulsandra. On 4 August 2012 they made their second appearance performing at Londons

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten. The Q ...

as a part of the

Meltdown Festival Meltdown is an annual festival held in London, featuring a mix of music, art, performance and film. Meltdown is held in June at Southbank Centre, the arts complex covering and including the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and The ...

, curated by Anohni of

Antony and The Johnsons Antony and the Johnsons is an American music group presenting the work of Anohni and her collaborators. Career British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Anohni's music through his Durtro lab ...

. Their evening "Albion-Hynagogue-Ghost; Hallucinatory Queer British Paganism" also had performances from David Tibet and James Blackshaw's Myrninerest as well as screenings of rare super 8 films by

of which Cyclobe premiered soundtracks to three of his films, Sulphur, Tarot and Garden of Luxor. Cyclobe's line up for this concert was Ossian Brown, Stephen Thrower, Michael J York, Cliff Stapleton, Ivan Pavlov, Dave Smith and Antony Hegarty . Incorporating films and projected artworks by Fred Tomaselli, Anna Thew, Alex Rose and David Larcher. Cyclobe made their third live performance in Norway on 7 September 2012 invited by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

, the artistic director of the 2012 Kristiansand Punkt festival.

Discography

Albums

*'' Luminous Darkness'' (CD) (1999) *'' The Visitors'' (CD) (2001) *'' Paraparaparallelogrammatica'' (CD, vinyl) (2004) *'' Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window'' (vinyl, download) (2010) *'' Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window'' (CD) (2011) *'' Sulphur-Tarot-Garden'' (CD, vinyl) (2014) *'' The Visitors'' (CD, vinyl) (2014)

Singles

*'' Pathfinder/Remember, Archangels Protect Us...'' (vinyl) (2003) *'' Each and Every Word Must Die II'' (CD) (2004) *'' The Eclipser/The Moths of Pre-Sleep'' (vinyl) (2010) *'' Augural Sun'' (CD) (2010) *'' Ayin Acla'' (CD) (2011)

Compilation tracks

References

* http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8465:cyclobe-qwounded-galaxies-tap-at-the-windowq&catid=13:albums-and-singles&Itemid=133 * http://thequietus.com/articles/09690-meltdown-festival-2012-review-antony-hegarty-lou-reed-laurie-anderson * http://www.musicomh.com/music/gigs/cyclobe_0812.htm

External links

Cyclobe website
{{Authority control British industrial music groups British electronic musicians Experimental musical groups