In the Nursery

In The Nursery are a neo-classical/martial electronica band, known for their cinematic sound. As a result, they have provided soundtracks to a variety of TV programmes and films, and are known for their rescoring of silent films.

Career

Twin brothers Klive and Nigel Humberstone and guitar player Anthony Bennett formed this Sheffield, England-based band in 1981.

The trio originally tagged along with the UK's industrial music scene, releasing the six-track "When Cherished Dreams Come True" in June 1983. The "Witness (To A Scream)" single and "Sonority" EP followed before the band moved to the Sweatbox label for the fearsome "Temper" EP.

The full-length "Twins" was recorded without the departed Bennett at Bradford's Flexible Response Studio. The album adopted a more subtle approach by favouring theatrical atmospherics over industrial clatter. Multi-lingual vocalist Dolores Marguerite C made her debut on the "Trinity" EP adding French narration to "Elegy'. Dolores and military-styled percussionist Q were added to the line-up on the subsequent "Stormhorse", the soundtrack to an imaginary film that provided the cinematic blueprint for all their future recordings. The quartet's final recording for Sweatbox, 1988's "Köda", completed the transition to a classical instrumental sound and utilised computer sequencing in the recording process for the first time.

Following the collapse of Sweatbox the band moved to Third Mind Records to complete the delicate "L'Esprit". The album was recorded with engineer Steve Harris who had contributed to "Köda" and would feature on all the band's subsequent releases. "Sense" and "Duality" were followed by a logical progression to real soundtrack work on 1993's psychological drama "An Ambush of Ghosts". Their music has also featured in "Interview with the Vampire", "Streetfighter II" and "The Rainmaker", and in the late 90s the band was commissioned, as part of the Optical Music Series, to provide new scores for the silent classics "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", "Asphalt", and "Man with a Movie Camera". "Anatomy Of A Poet", a concept album about the creative psyche, featured author Colin Wilson reciting romantic poetry against a lush backdrop of strings, and also included a cover version of Scott Walker's "Seventh Seal".

A retrospective compilation of their work was the first release on their own ITN Corporation label. Further concept albums have included "Deco" (inspired by the Art Deco movement) and the ambitious "Lingua", an exploration of language featuring vocal contributions from around the world. The Humberstones also record more dance-oriented material under the "Les Jumeaux" moniker, and as such were involved in pre-production work on Sabres of Paradise's classic techno anthem "Smokebelch".

Album discography

*"When Cherished Dreams Come True" (1983, mini-album)
*"Sonority" (1985)
*"Temper" (1985, EP)
*"Twins" (1986)
*"Trinity" (1987, EP)
*"Stormhorse" (1987)
*"Köda" (1988)
*"L'Esprit" (1990)
*"Sesudient" (1990, EP)
*"Sense" (1991)
*"Duality" (1992)
*"An Ambush of Ghosts" (1993, soundtrack)
*"Anatomy of a Poet" (1994)
*"Deco" (1996)
*"The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" (1996, soundtrack)
*"Asphalt" (1997, soundtrack)
*"Lingua" (1998)
*"Man with a Movie Camera" (1999, soundtrack)
*"Groundloop" (2000)
*"Hindle Wakes" (2001, soundtrack)
*"Engel" (2001)
*"Praxis" (2003)
*"A Page of Madness" (2004, soundtrack)
*"Electric Edwardians" (2005, soundtrack)
*"Era" (2007)
*"The Passion of Joan of Arc" (2008, soundtrack)

External links

* [http://www.inthenursery.com In The Nursery]
*Images of the [http://www.guyjbrown.com/abbeydalepicturehouse.html Abbeydale Picture House] , which appears on the cover of the Era album