In The Nursery - Dark symphonies for imaginary films

In The Nursery - the project of twins Klive and Nigel Humberstone - is one of the lesser-known yet most deserving acts on the international gothic scene. Over a twenty-year career, always far from the rock spotlight, the British band has managed to assemble an incredible variety of sounds and compositions, blending classical orchestral symphonies with hard rock, synth-pop timbres and new age textures, with a particular focus on syncretism in language and expressionism in aesthetics.

Influenced by Genet's existentialism and Cocteau's symbolism, the Humberstone twins debuted in 1981 with an EP, When Cherished Dreams Come True, full of apocalyptic atmospheres and glacial harmonies. An evocative work, followed shortly after by another EP, Temper, which reproduces and expands on that funereal mood, amid martial beats, spectral screams and a requiem organ. Already in these early works their extra weapon emerges: the ability to use structures from classical music within rock songs, creating an atmosphere that, on its own, is worth more than the songs themselves. Their gamble, in short, is to succeed in combining the menacing dark-punk of Siouxsie and Joy Division, or the dreamlike pop of Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance, with the symphonies of Beethoven.

Only in August 1986 did their debut album come out, pairing refined electronic arrangements with soft female vocalizations. The title is autobiographical: Twins. "For us, working together as twins feels perfectly natural," explains Nigel. "We work well together, both musically and creatively. Obviously we have similar tastes because of that, but the fact that we still lead two separate lives gives us just the right amount of tension to fuel creativity. We question each other about what we're doing, but we instinctively know when we're getting it right. For us, it's also a guarantee of the quality of our work that we compose both together and separately, drawing ideas from different inspirations. Then we try to develop them, either as a pair or alone - there's no standard method."

From 1987, the band is joined by military trumpeter and percussionist Q and polyglot vocalist Dolores Marguerite C, who work on a new EP, Trinity, in which the band's traditional "funeral marches" merge with increasingly rarefied sounds. Their music, a portrait of alienation and urban desolation, begins to take on the spiritual tone of a meditation on death. It's a whirlwind of ethereal, restless atmospheres, achieved above all through the use of sampling and the collage of various instrumental pieces. "Our main tool is our trusty 7100 Macintosh computer, running Logic Audio software," Nigel recounts. "In our work we make heavy use of samples of strings and orchestral percussion (bass drums, snares and timpani), and of course oboe and flute played live in the studio."

The effect, increasingly visionary, is what the twins call "filmic music". "Ne don't mean it so much in the sense of 'soundtrack music' – Klive clarifies. I think our music evokes a filmic dimension, creates an atmosphere, fuels the imagination". It's only natural, then, that the band has been called upon to compose music for several films.

Their first soundtrack is Stormhorse, a concentrate of drama and romanticism, in which the melodies square off against the roughness of the percussion. "Portamento" and "Counterpart", for instance, manage to fuse the pressing string sections and terrifying baroque pipe organs with the atmospheric melodies (trumpets or flutes) and rhythms (drums, tambourines, rattles) of Ennio Morricone, multiplying their evocative power.

In 1988 the Humberstones release Köda, their second proper album and one of their finest works overall. Classical symphonies are deconstructed through sophisticated compositions that alternate martial drum rolls, an orchestral bolero, and dark cellos ("Ascent"). A "Verdi-like" melodiousness dominates, grafted onto minimalist textures in the vein of Michael Nyman. There are many short episodes, such as "Kotow", pervaded by the sound of an exotic flute. The music remains constantly menacing, finding peace only in the closing moments of "The Seventeenth Parallel".

Next comes L'Esprit, an even more "classical" and sophisticated work. An album in which In The Nursery sketch small romantic frescoes bordering on new age. It's the minimalism of their music that takes over here, with a female choir and a solemn orchestra set against each other. Tracks like "To The Faithful", "Sesudient", "Azure Wings" (with echoes of Bach) and the tender adagio of "Retaliation" (close to certain Schubert symphonies) are the standout tracks which, together with the apotheosis of the title track, give the album an almost mystical intensity.

In 1991 comes Senses, which veers toward synth-pop and ethnic sounds, as in the Orientalist "A Rebours". The instrumental interludes once again highlight the band's leaning toward the darkest, most solemn symphonism. A year later comes Duality, a somewhat overly pretentious album featuring quotes from Shakespeare (a couple of tracks are recited by Richard Burton). The return to soundtrack work with An Ambush Of Ghosts accentuates the classical-music overtones of their sound. It's a style revisited in subsequent experiments: Anatomy Of A Poet, the remix of the single "Hallucinations", as well as Feathercut and Cobalt, two works released under the pseudonym Les Jumeaux.

But it's in 1996, with Deco, that the British band rediscovers its finest form. Partly thanks to the evocative voice of Dolores Marguerite C., who sings in French with extraordinary grace and charm. Thus is born that little jewel of elegance, "Caprice", in which Dolores's vocals blend with the soft keyboard textures. The record reflects In The Nursery's inclination toward every form of integration between music, art, painting and film: "Someone once asked us which era we would have liked to live in, and we both agreed that the Twenties would have been the right period for us – Nigel recalls -. The creativity of that era, and the constant search for new clarity of expression, modes and design that manifested itself in Art Deco, inspired us to write an album like 'Deco'". The tracks on the album, which also include an ode to the poet Mallarmé, have titles ("Mandra," "Bassilica," "Harmonia", "Moreau") that are far from random, chosen according to phonetic and aesthetic criteria tied to the work's dominant idea.

In the gaps between their various soundtracks (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Asphalt, Man With A Movie Camera) and their European (and Mexican) tours, In The Nursery slip in another gem, Lingua. An album that amounts to a genuine study of language, its evolution and its various phonetic patterns, with tracks sung in Japanese, ancient indigenous Mexican languages, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish and even Friulian. "The vocal contributions on 'Lingua' came from many different sources – Nigel Humberstone recalls – from friends and various contacts in Mexico, Japan, Italy, and from our work with Dolores Marguerite C. We chose parts that married well with our music, rather than strange voices and languages for their own sake. We wanted to present a selection of different languages, each with its own identity. The lyrics were chosen to accompany specific tracks, like the Chilean poetry for 'Poema'; others were supplied and suggested by friends of ours in Mexico City, for example the Yugoslav and Mayan pieces. Still others were chosen by chance. For 'Biello Dumlo' we received a letter from an Italian DJ who was helping keep the ancient Friulian dialect alive by using it on his radio show. He sent us a cassette with his version of 'Biello Dumlo Di Valor'. And we began writing our own musical interpretation to accompany it". The high point of the album is the poignant elegy "Poema", which distills the best of their sophisticated, ethereal arrangements paired with Dolores Marguerite's seductive voice. "It's also my favourite track – Nigel reveals – I believe one day someone will use it for a film".

Groundloop (2000) is yet another proof of the rarefied elegance of music under the In The Nursery name. Music that seems timeless. "Maybe because we know how to blend modern technology with classical orchestration – Nigel observes -. We don't try to structure our music around whatever's fashionable at a given moment, so we're not affected when that trend changes or disappears". And what also gives their sound its depth is its layering: "The tracks come from a constantly evolving process, built on an initial idea that might start from a rhythm or perhaps a particular chord. Most of the time we add so many things that we then have to strip them back and rearrange the parts", Clive explains.

Influenced by German Romanticism and Mitteleuropean decadent art, but also drawn to the allure of dark-rock and synth-pop, In The Nursery have built a cathedral of sound of extraordinary richness, straddling cosmic music, new age and classical music. Perhaps their tour will reach Italy in 2001. In the meantime, they have composed new soundtracks and released an anthology (unfortunately now almost impossible to find) titled Exhibit.

In 2003 the English band makes a surprise return with Praxis. The title track, split into two movements that open and close the album, is one of their typically "synthesized" classical-music pieces, an artificial orchestra that simulates the grandeur of symphonic music while simultaneously freezing its emotional impact: the electronic pulse gives the track a syncopated, anxious, menacing gait. As ever, the melodies are built around minimalist repetition: but with In The Nursery, what has always mattered most is the "background", those sudden, commanding staccato moments rising up from the foreground figures, those wonderful harmonic structures that hold up their imposing sonic castles. On the sung tracks, the winning card instead becomes the contrast between the grandeur of the music and the spectral voice of Dolores C., who on this album embellishes the cerebral score of "Vocopolis", the refined and melancholy "cosmic" new age in the style of Enigma on "Memento" and "Amer" (the latter perhaps the track with the most evocative harmonies on the whole album), and finally that strange hybrid of trip-hop and chamber music for flute, oboe and piano, "Argent". The Humberstones are also helped by another singer, Katz Kiely, on the splendid lied "Outburn", and take on vocal duties themselves on "Concept", another elegant orchestral adagio, this time paired with a chilly industrial beat.

After the new soundtrack A Page Of Madness, In The Nursery return to a new studio album in 2007 with Era. The orchestral romanticism remains, expressed through imposing electronic cathedrals, as shown for instance by the opening "Blueprint", dominated by the voice of Dolores C. Marguerite, string embroidery and stormy drumming (courtesy of David Elektrik). The other vocalist, Sarah Jay Hawley, adds a delicate, intense touch to the band's dark atmospheres, while Klive Humberstone returns to the mic on "Silent In Time", one of the album's highlights, alongside the other refined piece for flute and cello, "Material and Form".

Five years pass before the next album, Blind Sound. In between came the interlude devoted to the film about the ordeal of Joan of Arc. The Humberstones reach another destination, merging the neoclassical, ethereal essence of their art with the apocalyptic taste of their imagined films. Lives suspended, whether at their end or their beginning, visionary all the same.

Long sweeps of keyboard over which notes stretch out into infinity, heavy and symbolic in representing human destinies, mark the opening "Artisans Of Civilisation", which opens the album to the rhythm of timpani and their own voices, steady and martial. They use their voices, unusually, with great generosity, "relegating" Dolores Marguerite C. to sparse, "angelic" interventions. That's precisely the novelty here, a sign of the intent to mark the music with voices that are now epic, heavy, with the female part instead reserved for underlining the more ethereal moments. It's the return of Stormhorse, and it's precisely with the spirited opener and the following "Past Glory" that the subtle, unsettled enchantment that defined an era becomes current again, opening up horizons for anyone wishing to duel with destiny. A soundtrack of the "after" — of war or of love. The aftermath, the battlefield surveyed afterward through eyes of mercy and surrender.

The only space dedicated to sounds from the second part of the band's career ("Engel", "Praxis" above all) is the seraphic interlude before the return to martial peaks: "Crepuscule" is velvet in its keyboards and female voice. An interlude: the moment to draw the fullest breath and pleasure from the first part of a work while awaiting the next, which here, with "Coloured Silence", sees the arrival of another epic musician, Matt Howden. Sieben's violin plays with the neoclassical keyboards in a track reminiscent of Stoa for its intimate surface, excavated with passion and sensitivity; the same goes for "Crave": the sum of it all, the symphony of the soul. Now here too is Dolores, David Elektrik's drumming, Sieben and the two twins, who with this track stake out new horizons to be moved by once again in the name of a timeless music.

Twins Klive and Nigel Humberstone return to the scene with an album inspired by 1961, the year of their birth. The English group continues its thirty-year career with a record that moves between dark-synth/new age sounds and delicate orchestral symphonies, with an evident passion for the darkest, most intimate soundtracks.

1961 is dense with historical and cultural references, but above all it floats in a dreamlike atmosphere that dissolves post-punk attitude into a kind of sui generis neoclassical darkwave. Above everything looms the sense that something, from that year to the present day, has gone wrong: what prevails is an air of pervasive melancholy, as romantic as it is decadent.

“Until Before After” opens the album with a track that fuses the band's wave attitude with a murky, grandiloquent, classicizing taste, well underlined by the drumming of David Electrik and the voice of Dolores Marguerite C, a longtime collaborator dating back to the days of Stormhorse.

With “Torschlusspanik” we step fully into the spirit of 1961, a track inspired by the construction of the Berlin Wall: a grim ride through feelings of anguish and fear amid the future cultural and social rubble of the Cold War to come.

There's no shortage, though, of moments where biographical detail peeks through the maelstrom of political and social references running through the album. Amid memories, “hauntology” and founding myths, In The Nursery compose their own personal, ghostly elegy here.

It's a solid work that reveals the interesting evolution of In The Nursery: without any dramatic upheavals, but showing their excellent ability to translate complex themes into their own personal emotional spectrogram.

Contributions by Mauro Roma (“Praxis”), Nicola Tenani (“Blind Sound”), Marco De Baptistis (“1961”)

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google