Formed in 1980 by Martin Bowes in Coventry, England, Attrition’s early output presaged trends that would emerge as genres of their own in the ’90s gothic/industrial resurgence. Drones and tape manipulations released under the title 'Death House' prefigured dark ambient “isolationism” by almost 10 years, while the group’s first two proper albums — 'The Attrition of Reason' and 'Smiling at the Hypogonder Club' — set the tone for the style now known as darkwave.
Attrition had its day in the US college-radio spotlight with the spooky “Monkey in a Bin,” released alongside the likes of Nina Hagen, Alan Jourgensen, The Smiths, Siouxsie and Howard Jones on the 1987 Wax Trax compilation Animal Liberation (which benefited PETA). Since then, Attrition has released more than twenty albums, each one striking a balance between dualistic forces: Gloomy atmospheres mixed with prodding beats; classical bombast melded with ambient noise; Bowes’ stern spoken vocals juxtaposed against a series of increasingly operatic-sounding female vocalists.
The latest such singer to sign on to Bowes’ long-running project is US born Tylean. She adds what many Attrition fans consider the most emotive and expressive element yet to Bowes’ assault of dark electronica, which is more concerned with enveloping listeners in a dense nebula of soundscapes than with moving bodies on the dance floor via the clichéd thud-thud of many a goth-club chestnut.
" Creating and exploring rich shadowy electronic soundscapes...interweaving the ephemeral with the operatic, the sound can at once calm your soul and chill your bones..."
Regards
Carlmcoy
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