In The Nursery

"Era" (Album, 2007)

ITN Corporation

Rather than mark their 25th year of releases with a celebratory compilation, ITN have simply produced another of their distinctive suites of compositions. There are unquestionably reflections of previous career milestones here and there, but whether or not this is conscious self-referencing or it is just serendipity I don't know. Given the band's desire to continually focus on the here and now, rather than the past, you'd think it's the latter. I'm not so sure.

Era showcases some of ITN's finest work so far. The album is described by the band as exploring the themes of architecture, urban decay and regeneration. Things unfold in classic ITN manner with Blueprint. Questions of architecture aside, could the title also be a nod to some of the building blocks of the unmistakable In The Nursery sound? Perhaps that's part of the intention with the entire album. Does Era refer back to the past as much as the present? Is the choice of title a deliberate attempt almost to summarise the twenty five year era that Nigel and Klive Humberstone have been creating? I can't help believing that it does and is.

Regular vocal contributor Dolores Marguerite C blends her whispered vocals with the music just as comfortably as ever. Our brothers have also enlisted the talents of Sarah Jay Hawley who is perhaps best known for her work with Massive Attack. She appears on three tracks. Several songs are what you might describe as instantly recognisable as ITN compositions. There's something very immediate about the suite of songs on Era. They simultaneously evoke the past but are unquestionably contemporary and this makes them rapidly accessible.

The greatest impact comes from Material & Form, Kryptka and Landlost where the dynamic and emotional range of their film soundtrack work can be heard. The truly remarkable Vantage is an instant classic; immediately establishing itself as one of the band's best songs ever. It elegantly encapsulates everything ITN stand for in compositional terms. It's a fine example of all that they do best, almost an archetypal ITN creation. Quite a glorious achievement. The only drawback is with the highs being just so high, other tracks pale slightly in comparison, meaning as a whole it's just a touch too uneven to be unequivocally great. It's a very close call though. 8/10

Rob Dyer (November 2007)

"A Page of Madness" (Album, 2004) !DSO Recommended!

ITN Corporation

Magical, poetic, inspired; In The Nursery's latest soundtrack is all these things and more. Without a doubt, their most mature (and subtle) score so far, A Page of Madness sees the two English brothers finally, firmly, step into the professional big league. For some years, their studio albums have been used in film soundtracks. Having a natural affinity with the genre, they began composing new soundtracks to films from the silent era. This is the latest entry into that strand of the ITN canon and, in their long, hard-working 25+ year career, A Page of Madness establishes itself as a landmark composition. I'd be surprised if history did not show this to be a watershed moment for the band.

The title is a taken from a Japanese 1926 film directed Teinosuke Kinugasa. The film tells the story of a retired sailor who takes a job as a janitor in an insane asylum so he can look after his wife, who has been locked away after she tried to drown their child. ITN's score deftly utilises Japanese instrumentation. Its incorporation into the compositions is never awkward or forced, providing a beautiful natural accompaniment to the more western elements. That's not to say this is an exercise in sweetness and light. Given the film's subject matter, the Humberstone's writing conveys menace, nervousness and madness itself. Yet throughout it remains an enormously satisfying experience, one that has me hankering after a live performance in support of seeing Kinugasa's film.

In The Nursery have been writing wonderful music for all their adult lives. Yet rarely have they managed to match the utter poignancy of this lyrical lesson in forlorn love, a lament for an inner beauty - captured in sound waves. Quite simply, A Page of Madness is a masterwork, and one that I wholeheartedly commend to you all. 9/10

Rob Dyer (November 2004)

"Praxis" (Album, 2003)

ITN Corporation

Having recently furnished Singapore Airlines with the music for their global ad campaign, it seems the wider world is finally beginning to pick up on this sibling duo's undoubted talent. Their prodigious output is as prolific as it is impressive. At least that's most of the time. However, with Praxis, although the objective of trying something a little different is apparent (and welcome), the results sound less rewarding than many of its forbears. Which is a shame as the presentation, in both the package design and song titles, is among the band's very best. The introduction of new female vocalist Katz Kiely on Outburn is among the most rewarding developments. One of the more overtly 'mainstream' style vocalists ITN have ever employed pays significant dividends. The Humberstone twins' widening objective here fulfilled in satisfying splendour.

In contrast are Ethics of Belief and Concept, where Nigel and Klive give their rarely exposed vocals outings that remind one of their early, naive material and confirms that they are best leaving those duties to others more naturally equipped to fulfil them. Although the album does have its high moments (like the gloriously shimmering opening bars of Vocopolis) and, of course, the production and attention to composition detail is as sharp as ever, the overall result is curiously easy to forget. Whilst I'm sure many fans will feel rewarded by the element of diversity that Praxis introduces to the ITN canon, for this enthusiast it doesn't quite come off. Still, all credit to them for attempting to widen their perspective. 6/10

Rob Dyer (May 2004)

"Cause + Effect" (Remix album, 2002) !DSO Recommended!

ITN Corporation

For their twenty-fifth (yes, that's 25th!) album, Sheffield's In The Nursery twins, Nigel and Klive Humberstone, have come up with something that, for regular listeners at least, is an unexpected surprise - a compilation album of other bands covering ITN songs. The one exception to this is ITN's own cover of Joy Division classic Love Will Tear Us Apart. Theirs is a distinctly unique take on the song, slowed down and with an unusual vocal approach, this is likely to appeal and repel in equal measure to fans of Joy Division. But since this album will sell predominantly to ITN fans, they may be more open to the singular variation. I certainly like it.

Of the twelve other artists, Flesh Field's opening cover A Rebours [against nature], Faith & the Muse's Angelorum [fifth angel], Chandeen's Belle Epoque [interpretation], Miracle Road [do you remember?] by Steve Bennett and Ivan Lusco's take on El Secreto [it] are all very impressive. In each instance, the source material is readily identifiable yet the artists manage to stamp a distinctive and imaginative quality all of their own. Others are slightly disappointing by comparison, but Attrition's To The Faithful [in remembrance] is not only unrecognisable but quite unlike anything else by Martin Bowles' long-running band. An eccentric delight for Attrition fans for sure.

There's little attempt at taking the tracks onto the dance floor, and those that do tend to up the tempo and introduce more beats seem more strained than the rest. But the weaker tracks are by far in the minority, meaning Cause + Effect is a cracking compilation that fans of ITN cannot afford to be without. Whilst those curious, vaguely familiar or fans of any of the featured artists would do well to get hold of too. 7/10

Rob Dyer

"Engel" (Album, 2001)

ITN Corporation

The ITN production machine rolls on. This time, however, it's a departure in that Engel is the soundtrack to a German multimedia game project that unites music, images and texts. This retains all the hallmarks of the finely honed ITN style, but does depart slightly from their regular studio albums.

Not known for their wild unpredictability, Engel is more of a logical progression of In The Nursery's regular work and features re-recordings of two early classics - Blue Religion and To The Faithful. The re-take of Blue Religion in particular works extremely well. The original was one of my all-time favourite ITN tracks. The new version here has a more mature sense to it, more urgency and is transformed by a terrific, live bass guitar - complete with sliding fret work. This could even surpass the original. Moments during the remainder utilise sounds that would not be out of place in ITN's dancier side project Les Jumeaux, but still Engel remains firmly in the film soundtrack camp throughout. It also builds upon their last album, Groundloop's, supreme blending of electronic and wind and string instrumentation. Trace elements of earlier ITN compositions seem to emerge occasionally - a perception I often get when listening to ITN. Cathedral of Thoughts is an example of this. A classic In The Nursery composition if ever their was one. The mellow Aftermath is a subdued, melancholic masterpiece that effortlessly lilts its way through six minutes - seemingly over in a fraction less. Sigils follows immediately behind and continues the sense of an epic journey nearing its end. Beautiful distant voices and the impression of wood creaking upon water.

I can only assume that New Zealand director Peter Jackson has never heard of the Humberstone twins. I'm sure that if he had, it would have been In The Nursery that would have supplied the score that The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring truly deserved. In many ways, this is closer to ITN's Optical Music series of new scores written for silent films, in that it has to enhance images and work independently as an album in its own right. The good news, for those who don't have access to the game that spawned this, is that Engel is a rather fine work in its own right. All wrapped up in a typically sumptuous package. 7/10

Rob Dyer

Official Engel website: http://www.engel-net.com

"Groundloop" (Album, 2000) !DSO Recommended!

ITN Corporation

Inexplicably, largely overlooked in their native UK, Sheffield-based twins Nigel and Klive Humberstone release their 22nd album in 17 years (!) - their output including various film soundtracks, compilations and side projects. Despite this prolific workrate, they receive minimal coverage in the UK press. Thankfully, this is made up for overseas, where their longevity is appreciated by thousands of fans widely displaced across the globe and more frequent press interest.

If you're new to In The Nursery (ITN) then their unusual blend of the electronic and classical could initially be a bit disconcerting. Lush strings (real and synthetic) sit alongside epic percussion, military snare, oboe, flute, guitar and dance beats producing a truly unique sound that is midway between sumptuous film soundtrack and ambient dance music. Past albums have tended to focus on one thread of this stylistic fabric but with Groundloop their ability to successfully and impressively combine these often disparate elements into one package has reached new heights. I've heard it said before that when you have one ITN album you've got them all. The same thing is frequently said of John Barry's Bond film scores. But both are wrong. Like Barry before them, ITN have managed to find a niche and mine it so that the exploration of a particular musical furrow becomes a journey of discovery for creators and listeners alike.

As with most (all?) ITN albums, Groundloop has been conceived with a distinct agenda and aim in mind. With only eight tracks, rapidly covering a modest 43 minutes running time, it is all over much too soon. But if there's one rule in music it's leave 'em wanting more, and this ITN do perfectly with this latest album. One has to admire their ingenuity in making that instrumental butt of all musical jokes, the panpipes, seem to be the only sound known to mankind that could possibly be used to such captivating effect on allegory. Backed by the epic percussion mentioned earlier, this piece was surely intended as the accompaniment to a sweeping helicopter shot of a beautiful waterfall  - somewhere in the depths of the Amazonian rainforest. Like several of the tracks here, displaced begins in one direction and suddenly morphs into another. In this case, the transformation is triggered by the introduction of a sequencer bearing all the hallmarks of John Carpenter at his finest.

Once more, Dolores Marguerite C delivers the versatile vocals, be they in English, French or Spanish. She appears on five of the eight tracks - more than usual for the brothers whose output is largely instrumental. This is a very strong suite of compositions (admittedly with some fleeting hints of the past). The glorious imparator has its plucked acoustic guitar sequencer sound and mellow strings, whilst chronicle is an exemplary lesson to all in how to create inventive ambient dance music. This track the culmination of years of experimentation by ITN in this direction. The intelligent floating SF soundscape of synature suddenly and unexpectedly conjures up images of night-time in some middle eastern desert. Finishing with the signature ITN electronic/classical blended style of qui mal, Groundloop is ITN's most perfectly-realised (non soundtrack) release for several years. Fans of old will be delighted by the achievements of this album and newcomers would find this an ideal embarkation point on their journey into the musical realm created by In The Nursery. Brimming with cleverly tempered tension and drama, Groundloop may be short in length but it's long on style. Recommended.  8/10

Rob Dyer

Official In The Nursery website: http://www.inthenursery.com