Young Marble Giants - Wales' shy giants

The idea of a band that, from the very moment it forms, is already aware it won't last long is at the very least curious, if not unthinkable, in today's music scene.

Young Marble Giants were, in the post-punk years, a prime example of this philosophy. Three musicians from Cardiff, Wales — the Moxham brothers, Stuart and Phil, and singer Alison Statton — formed this band, taking their name from a colossal marble statue housed in the Athens museum.

According to the rare interviews they gave, they started making music in a city that was "tremendously apathetic, where life itself seemed impossible to live," and untouched by the clamour of punk. Stuart learned to play guitar knowing only four chords, while his brother was content just to play bass. Alison, meanwhile, came from experience in bands formed with school friends.

Their early shows were not encouraging: only one spectator turned up to their first gig, and the audience had grown to seven by the second. It's not hard to understand the poor turnout at those early concerts and the general indifference to what they were doing: their minimal sound was about as far removed from the fashions of the time as could be, but their first recorded appearance wasn't long in coming, thanks to Z-block, who included them on a compilation of local bands.

The two tracks on "Is The War Over?" are already telling: guitar with no effects, a dry, deep bass, an organ with fairground-like melodies. A Suicide-style drum machine and, over it all, Alison's gentle, almost whispered voice. Yet "Searching For Mr.Right" is compelling in its own way, while "Ode To Booker T" is, indeed, minimal, barely held up by organ and bass. Legend has it that a copy of the compilation found its way to the offices of Rough Trade, then the most important independent label in England, if not in Europe, and to the ears of boss Geoff Travis, who wasted no time offering the band the chance to record an LP. And this is where the trio's shyness started to show. The news caught them by surprise, yet at the same time they saw it as a major milestone.

The recordings took four days in the autumn of '79 and led to the release of their only album, Colossal Youth, in February '80: in the promotional photos the three of them look like they're there by accident.

So, the album, and finally the music — minimal, as mentioned, built on tight dialogues between guitar and bass, kept in time by a drum machine. Despite this, the resulting sonic puzzle is never the same twice. It ranges from the rumba of "Include Me Out" to the samba of "Eating Noddemix", via the tango of "Colossal Youth". "The Taxi" is an organ-based instrumental, as is "Wind In The Rigging". "Constantly Changing" sounds like the Dead Kennedys played by Codeine. "Choci Loni" betrays Morricone-esque influences, while "Man Amplifier" anticipates certain sonic solutions later found in Stereolab.

The ending, too, is extraordinary: "Brand-New-Life", "Credit In The Straight World", "Wurlitzer Jukebox" and "Salad Days" are pop gems, the last of which shines brightest thanks to its perfect interlocking of guitar, bass and voice.

In this patchwork it's hard to pin down any clear influences: probably Brian Eno, mixed with Suicide, Kraftwerk and Devo.

The album sells well and the band sets off on a European tour; meanwhile a single comes out with three new tracks, among them "Final Day", whose lyrics paraphrase what might have been a nuclear apocalypse. Accompanied by an unsettling hiss, the song is perhaps the most melodic in the band's entire catalogue; the rest of the 7" is only slightly less strong.

In the autumn, Young Marble Giants embark on a US tour alongside Cabaret Voltaire.

These shows are documented on the DVD "Live At Hurrah!", recorded in New York. Live, the band is hampered by nerves and the fear of disappointing, but the magnetism of their music and Alison's vocals makes up for everything, drawing the audience's attention and leaving them utterly captivated by her performances.

Before their final tour, the band starts writing new songs, but with Alison ill, the result is only a mini-album, the Testcard Ep, released in '81.

It's six instrumentals, ambient music that the two brothers describe as an attempt to recreate the BBC's background music. But the absence of vocals is keenly felt, and this will unfortunately remain the band's final recorded statement: something evidently went wrong in the relationship binding Stuart to Alison, which was also an emotional one, and she leaves the band to form Weekend with Simon Booth, later devoting herself to other projects under the name Devine & Statton.

The Moxhams would also carry on under the name The Gist, releasing a few singles and an album ("Embrace The Herd", 1983), but nothing that comes close to their past work.

In the work of Young Marble Giants, the do-it-yourself aesthetic takes shape as melodic music that defies the conventions of its era. One might say, borrowing from photography, that although built with a coarse grain, the image it conveys is sharp and refined. But what makes it unique is a magnetism that grips you inescapably, even after just one listen.

Ride the wave of great music

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