Robin Andrew Guthrie (born 4 January 1962) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, composer,

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

, best known as the co-founder of the

post punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock music, rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981. In 19 ...

. During his career Guthrie has performed guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and other musical instruments, in addition to programming, sampling and sound processing.

Early life

Guthrie grew up in

Grangemouth Grangemouth (; , ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area in the central belt of Scotland. Historically part of the Counties of Scotland, county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firt ...

, Scotland. There were musical instruments in his family's home, but he never had any proper musical training. With an interest in electronics and trained as an

electrician An electrician is a tradesman, tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the ...

, Guthrie started to experiment with

fuzz box Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain (electronics), gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distorti ...

es and guitar pedals to find an alternative sound for his guitar. Guthrie and his friend

Will Heggie Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and ...

were members of a four-piece band called The Heat, who later released a single under the name The Liberators in 1980. The same year, Guthrie co-founded

with Heggie and vocalist

Elizabeth Fraser Elizabeth Davidson Fraser (born 29 August 1963) is a Scottish singer. She was the vocalist for the band Cocteau Twins, who achieved success in the UK from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. Their studio albums '' Victorialand'' (1986) and '' H ...

Career

Following the break-up of Cocteau Twins in 1998, Guthrie released his first solo record, ''Imperial'', in 2003 on Bella Union Records. Guthrie's next release, which was co-written with

Harold Budd Harold Montgomory Budd (May 24, 1936December 8, 2020) was an American music composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert, he became a respected composer in the minimal music and avant-garde scene of Southern California ...

, was the

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

for

Gregg Araki Gregg Araki (born December 17, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His ''Teenage Apocalypse'' film trilogy, consisting of ''Totally F***ed Up ''(1993), ''The Doom Generation ''(1995) ...

's '' Mysterious Skin''. The soundtrack was released in May 2005 by Commotion and consists of 15 complete songs based on the short pieces used in the film. In 2006, Guthrie signed a four-album solo deal with

Darla Records Darla Records is an independent record label founded by James Agren in October 1993 while he was in New York (state), New York. Darla's first release was a 7-inch by Grifters (band), Grifters, an indie rock/lo-fi music, lo-fi band from Memphis. ...

, the first product of which was the

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

''Continental''. In February 2007, American

webzine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the computer ...

'' Somewhere Cold'' voted ''Continental'' best album of 2006, on their ''2006 Somewhere Cold Awards Hall of Fame'', and ranked Guthrie ''Artist of the Year''. He subsequently released two four-track EPs, ''Everlasting'' and ''Waiting for Dawn''. Two more collaborations with Harold Budd (who had previously announced his musical retirement) were released simultaneously in 2007. '' After the Night Falls'' and '' Before the Day Breaks'' were both co-composed, co-produced and played with Budd. Like the soundtrack to ''Mysterious Skin'', both albums are slow, drifting pieces primarily utilising treated guitar and piano. Guthrie has also collaborated with singer Siobhan de Maré (formerly of Mono) as the band Violet Indiana. Their first full-length album, ''Roulette'', was released in 2001. A second album, ''Russian Doll'', followed in 2004. In March 2006 Guthrie reported on his weblog that the group had started work again on new material. In May 2009, ''Mirrorball'', an album-length collaboration between Guthrie and

John Foxx John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of the New wave music, new wave band Ultravox, before leaving ...

was released on Metamatic Records. A new solo album, ''Carousel'', was released via Rocket Girl in Europe on 1 September 2009 and Darla Records on 15 September 2009. Additionally, Guthrie issued the ''Angel Falls EP'' in early 2009, and the ''Songs to Help My Children Sleep EP'' in October 2009. A further EP ''Sunflower Stories'' was released in March 2010 Guthrie's most recent releases are ''Emeralds'' (2011) and two collaboration albums with Harold Budd, ''Bordeaux'' and ''Winter Garden'' (with Eraldo Bernocchi) (both 2011). He played guitar on the Telefon Tel Aviv track "The Sky Is Black", from ''The Birds'' EP (2012). Guthrie released ''Fortune'', his newest full-length album on 26 November 2012. In 2015, Guthrie and friend Mark Gardener of Ride wrote, performed and recorded an album ''Universal Road'' together. Guthrie currently tours live under the name "The Robin Guthrie Trio" consisting of himself, Steve Wheeler (on bass) & Antti Mäkinen (on drums). He works and lives in France with his wife Florence.

Recording and production work

In 1985, Robin Guthrie produced

Felt Felt is a textile that is produced by matting, condensing, and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic fiber, acrylic or acrylonitrile or ...

's fourth studio album, '' Ignite the Seven Cannons'', and in 1987, he produced

The Gun Club The Gun Club were an American post-punk band from Los Angeles that existed from 1979 to 1996. Created and led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce, they were notable as one of the first bands in the punk rock subculture to i ...

's fourth studio album, '' Mother Juno'' in Berlin. In 1990 he produced Lush's second EP ''

Mad Love __NOTOC__ Mad Love may refer to: Books *''Mad Love'' (French ''L'amour fou''), collection of poems by André Breton *'' The Batman Adventures: Mad Love'', an Eisner and Harvey award-winning comic by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm * Mad Love (publisher), ...

'' and a few other songs scattered on various compilation albums. He went on to produce their 1992 debut album '' Spooky'' and '' Black Spring EP'' (1991). In 2005 Guthrie mixed Amber Smith's third studio album entitled ''

RePRINT A reprint is a re-publication of material that has already been previously published. The term ''reprint'' is used with slightly different meanings in several fields. Academic publishing In academic publishing, offprints, sometimes also known ...

'' which brought the band an international breakthrough.

Discography

;Studio albums (mainly solo) *''Imperial'' (2003) *''Continental'' (2006) *''3:19 - Bande originale du film'' (2008) *''Carousel'' (2009) *''Emeralds'' (2011) *''Fortune'' (2012) *''Pearldiving'' (2021) *''Springtime - EP'' (2022) *''Atlas - EP'' (2024) *Astoria - EP (2024)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guthrie, Robin 1962 births 20th-century Scottish male musicians 21st-century Scottish male musicians 4AD artists Alternative rock bass guitarists Alternative rock drummers British alternative rock guitarists Alternative rock keyboardists British ambient musicians Scottish film score composers British male film score composers Cocteau Twins members Fontana Records artists British gothic rock musicians Living people People from Grangemouth British post-punk musicians Scottish audio engineers Scottish bass guitarists Scottish drummers Scottish male drummers Scottish keyboardists Scottish multi-instrumentalists Scottish record producers Scottish rock guitarists British male bass guitarists Scottish male songwriters Rocket Girl artists Darla Records artists 20th-century Scottish engineers 21st-century Scottish engineers