Attrition - Dark Chamber-Techno

Attrition are one of the most elusive and hidden presences on the "industrial" scene of recent years. Originally positioned at the crossroads between the pioneering, avant-garde experiments of Throbbing Gristle and a more conventional fondness for EBM-style and synth-pop dance rhythms, the project gradually arrived at an unprecedented form of "chamber" techno music, built on harsh, shadowy atmospheres that nonetheless leave room for moments of great refinement and allure. The group was formed in Coventry, England, in 1981, and initially the official line-up was limited to the duo of Martin Bowes (vocals, percussion and electronic treatments) and Ashley Niblock (keyboards).

Right from the start, the duo threw themselves into a highly ambitious work, the soundtrack This Death House, from 1982, initially available only on cassette and later reissued on vinyl by Third Mind in 1987, then remastered on CD by Projekt Records in 1995. A work whose scope far exceeded the duo's artistic reach at the time, but one that already revealed an undeniable talent for mastering electronic equipment and for "camouflaging" the sound — a talent that was, however, still quite confused and unrefined. The record contains only two long tracks ("Crawling" and "Dead of Night"), two mini-symphonies that attempt to rework the great lesson of Throbbing Gristle: compared to their mentors, though, Attrition aim to set their electronic nightmares in soundscapes that are even more morbid, desolate and suffocating (in the first track), revealing a pronounced "gothic" sensibility, only to then (in the second) tear that same atmosphere to shreds through an explosion of extremely violent rhythms. Their first live shows in London in 1983, the single "Deliverance" the following year, and a brief European tour began to spread the band's name considerably.

The time therefore seemed ripe for the debut album, which indeed wasn't long in coming. But the band heard on The Attrition of Reason (Third Mind, 1984 / CD Projekt, 1994) is already a completely different one: Bowes is the undisputed master of the scene, and it's his decision to give space to a female voice, in keeping with the standard set by the then-thriving dreampop scene. So, with Julia Waller on vocals, Bowes and Niblock focus more on weaving increasingly visionary sonic backdrops. The extremism of their early days only resurfaces on "Behind Innocence, Lies", but what really stands out are the futuristic arrangements of "Day I Was Born" and the electronic triumph of "Beast of Burden". Overall, though, the record doesn't go beyond an admittedly interesting but still unfinished idea of blending industrial techno with a slightly more "cultured" brand of synth-pop than the average. Despite its ambitions, the result isn't too far removed from Eurythmics.

Far more interesting are the experiments found on the EP The Voice of God (released together with the album on the 1994 Projekt edition). Continuing a busy schedule of live shows across Europe that helped make them increasingly well-known among underground club audiences, Bowes and Niblock released their second album, Smiling at the Hypogonder Club (Third Mind, 1985 / CD Projekt, 1994). Bowes, the project's undisputed leader, once again relies on Julia Waller's voice (though other singers also appear on the record) to push his music further away from the radical harshness of industrial music (the reference points here have by now become Clock DVA and Coil rather than Throbbing Gristle) and immerse it in the fog of dark-wave and gothic. "Look at the Hedonist", the most danceable track, and "Pendulum Turns", the most funereal, mark the two extremes between which the album unfolds.

But it's only with the third album, In The Realm Of The Hungry Ghosts (Third Mind, 1986 / CD Projekt, 1994), that the Attrition project finally hits the mark, delivering a work of real power. With the loyal Waller and Niblock at his side, Bowes crafts at least two masterpieces ("Surge and Run", which timidly begins the move toward classical music, and the deeply bleak "The Last Refuge"): once again Bowes ranges across every possible use of electronics, brushing against ambient stasis with "Vigil" and unleashing his usual arsenal of torrential synthetic rhythms on "In Your Hand".

The catalogue is further enriched by the EP Future Tense, again included on the CD edition: "Forgotten Dream", "Adam & Eve" and the splendid "Which Hand?" are experiments that ferry his turbulent electronics toward austere, rigorous "classical" harmonies. In 1988 Ashley Niblock left the group, and Martin Bowes effectively became the sole owner of the Attrition name: having ended his relationship with Third Mind, Bowes also left England to settle temporarily in Belgium, where he signed to Antler, Europe's most prestigious EBM label.

Bowes finally found himself able to work in absolute freedom, and the result is At The Fiftieth Gate (Antler, 1988 / CD Projekt, 1995), the album of his definitive maturity. Aided by guitarists Paul Tyres and Garry Cox, percussionist Bob Oliver, and the voices of Julia Waller and Marianne, Bowes finally seems certain of the direction his project should take, and sets out to give a more complete and definitive shape to ideas that on previous records had only been in embryonic form. The frequent use of guitar sampling also shows how Bowes, out of necessity, had to adapt to the revolution that Ministry were bringing to industrial music overseas. But his goal isn't terror, nor the allegory of a technological society, still less an easy club hit (though clubgoers still rejoiced at the release of a stunning single like "Haydn (Or Mine)" and the cruel mechanical dance of "Death Truck"). Bowes's now openly declared aim is expressed in the harmonious yet dissonant lines of "My Friend Is Golden", in the electro-symphonic apotheosis of the title track, and in the decadent dance of "Sideways Glance" (included on the CD edition along with many other bonus tracks).

The 1989 EP Turn To Gold, however, prematurely closed Bowes's Flemish chapter. Meanwhile, in 1990, Sam Rosenthal's Projekt Records released Recollection, which sums up the entire first phase of the Attrition saga.

The album A Tricky Business (Contempo 1991 / Projekt 1995) rests on by-now fully consolidated technical foundations. "A Girl Called Harmony" remains one of their classics to this day; "Legitimate Sun" ventures into the electronic avant-garde of Ligeti and Stockhausen. "Resurrection" is suspense in its purest form. Having moved back to settle in his native Coventry, Martin Bowes founded the ultra-technological "Cage", his personal studio and laboratory, where he began working as a remixer and producer.

The album The Hidden Agenda (Hyperium 1993) celebrates both the present ("The Cage", "This Great Design", "The Third House") and the past ("The Mercy Machine"), but overall it comes across as an uncertain work, only half successful. A classic transitional record, one on which Julia Waller's presence is by now firmly established, and which lays the groundwork for a future in an explicitly "gothic" vein. Ephemera (1995) is an EP that reworks tracks from the by-now distant This Death House, distant both in time and in substance.

The following year Attrition officially signed to Projekt Records and released their new album. 3 Arms And A Dead Cert (Projekt, 1996) is the record of their coronation: Julia Waller's voice and Martin Bowes's electronics are finally blended to perfection, joined by what would become the decisive element of the turning point, violinist Frank Dematteis. Right at the opening come two absolute masterpieces of Bowes's visionary electronic art: "White Men Talk" and the splendid piece for voice and "spatial" arrangements, "Cosmetic Citizen". Berio and Ligeti seem to have overseen the disorienting manipulations of "One of These Mornings"; "Predicamene" and "Prelude" waste no time and venture fully into chamber music, while the title track is a collage close to the work of the brilliant Vampire Rodents.

All these experiments culminate in the memorable Etude (Projekt, 1997), which is in every respect a chamber music record, on which tracks from previous albums are re-arranged in orchestral form. Frank Dematteis (arrangements, violin, viola, organ), Martin Bowes (arrangements and percussion) and Julia Waller (voice) embody, in this work, the culmination of one of the most incredible and unpredictable musical progressions ever witnessed. Among the tracks, particular mention should go at least to the pairing of "Vigil / Scenario", the elegant version of "A Girl Called Harmony", and the harrowing requiem "Adam & Eve". Having hit upon his masterpiece with a record of this kind, however, paradoxically ends up diminishing Martin Bowes's stature: having spent fifteen years experimenting with electronics in every possible way, in a desperate search for a well-defined identity, only to reach the peak with an album that's entirely chamber-based, seems to suggest that Bowes essentially threw away an entire career. What's more, it's undeniable that much of Etude's beauty depends on Frank Dematteis's arrangements.

It's no coincidence that on the EP Eternity Bowes tries to return to techno, remixing four tracks from Etude in an attempt to renew himself, but instead ending up distorting the validity of the experiment. Fortunately, Bowes makes amends with The Jeopardy Maze (Projekt, 1999), on which he manages to find the right middle ground between the chamber symphonies of the previous record and his relentless exploration of electronic timbres and rhythms. "Atomizer" even manages to resurrect the violence of his early days, while "The Thin Veil" is one of the most complex, atmospheric and convincing tracks Bowes has ever put together.

The two releases from 2000, The Hand That Feeds, a double album of remixes and reworkings of Attrition tracks and those by other industrial artists, and the live album The Heretic Angels, show once again how Attrition is a project constantly split between two faces, in search of the perfect fusion between technology and classicism. Yet twenty years into his career, it's still not clear whether Martin Bowes is simply a lucky electronic-music amateur who, through sheer trial and error, stumbled onto the right path, or whether behind the facade of a techno guru lies a genuine avant-garde talent. In the meantime he teaches music and electronic production in Coventry, contributed to the latest album by his friend Sam Rosenthal's Black Tape For A Blue Girl, and continues his work as a remixer.

The two following records, Keepsakes And Reflections (2001) and Dante's Kitchen (2001), consolidate the formula without, however, adding anything particularly new.

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