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Various Artists: In Fractured Silence (SOUFFLE CONTINU RECORDS)

Originally compiled for Steven Stapleton's United Dairies label and now remastered, this snapshot of late 20th-century experimental/industrial music brings together the surreal collage of Nurse With Wound's Stapleton, the brooding piano of Robert Haigh (Sema), the chamber-styled acoustics of Hélène Sage, and the sonic provocations of Un Drame Musical Instantané.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Un Drame Musical Instantane

Helene Sage

Robert Haigh

Steven Stapleton


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UPC: 3491570065822

Label: SOUFFLE CONTINU RECORDS
Catalog ID: FFL087
Squidco Product Code: 36064

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: France
Packaging: Digipack
Originally released in 1984 as a vinyl LP on the United Dairies label with catalog code UD 015. Remastered by Gilles Laujol.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Have you heard of the Nurse With Wound List? If you are a fan of creative-experimental-unlikely music, certainly. You would therefore be aware that amongst the recommendations that Steven Stapleton slipped into the first album of his group Nurse With Wound, were to be found a few restless frogs: Jef Gilson, Luc Ferrari, Jacques Thollot, Urban Sax, Horde Catalytique and last...

... but not least Jean-Jacques Birge and Francis Gorge. Stapleton admired their album Defense de. The two Frenchmen just had to conceive of a fabulous precursor to the channel tunnel (check out the inside of the record, you'll see) to enable Stapleton to come to France in 1980. The Englishman was looking for contributions to a compilation to be released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, and he naturally called on Birge and Gorge, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in 'Un drame musical Instantane'.

It was a done deal and the compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantane, could be heard Helene Sage (whom Birge introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.

The curtain is raised and it is Un drame musical instantane who start the ball rolling. Mystery abounds; synthesisers lurk, percussion clatters and the sounds (creaks, whistles, vocal insertions...) fire in all directions. For the piano, it's a debacle, the Drame won, Helene Sage can take over. Heading up a quintette including Gorge and Vitet, she creates a cushioned chamber music with strings and many silences.

On the B side, it's the other side of the channel. Sema's piano first off, which dares everything, even melody, before spilling out its darkest ideas in a raucous requiem. Finally, Stapleton appears, delving into his collection of female voices to devote himself to an iconoclastic transformation and concoct a song which collapses under the assault like Marianne at Agincourt. After having listened to In Fractured Silence, you will simply have to choose sides."-Souffle Continu Records


Artist Biographies

"Hélène Sage, an iconoclastic orchestral woman and violin maker, sings, plays the double bass, all the flutes, the saxophone, the bass clarinet, keyboards and a thousand other bizarre objects that she has invented like her reed kettle that she spins above her head, her bow stools, her water percussions, and many other instruments resembling sculptures by Marcel Duchamp. Still, it sounds good!

Hélène Sage has a taste for original timbres as well as the most shaggy playing styles, concentrating on acoustics more than electronics. She is an outstanding improviser and a composer who walks with her feet on the ceiling."-Jean-Jacques Birgé (Drame.org)

-Helene Sage Website (http://helene.sage.free.fr/)
4/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

Robert Haigh is a British composer, pianist, and experimental musician known for his elegant, introspective solo piano works and his influential contributions to electronic and avant-garde music under various aliases. Emerging in the early 1980s, Haigh first gained recognition in the post-industrial and ambient scenes with his dark ambient project Sema and contributions to the experimental collective Nurse With Wound.

Throughout the '80s and '90s, he released music on labels such as United Dairies and Le Rey Records, while also pioneering atmospheric drum & bass and jungle under the alias Omni Trio, blending lush textures with breakbeat rhythms. In the 2000s, Haigh returned to minimalism and modern classical influences, focusing on deeply expressive solo piano recordings. His work on labels such as Unseen Worlds and Primary Numbers highlights a refined and contemplative aesthetic, exploring themes of memory, place, and mood through sparse, lyrical piano compositions.

-Squidco 4/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

Steven Stapleton is a seminal figure in the experimental and industrial music scenes, best known as the founder and only constant member of the long-running and highly influential project Nurse With Wound (NWW). Formed in 1978 alongside John Fothergill and Heman Pathak, NWW began as part of the UK's early industrial movement, heavily influenced by surrealism, dadaism, and musique concrète.

Stapleton's work spans genres including noise, drone, free improvisation, and dark ambient, often characterized by surreal collage techniques and sonic unpredictability. In addition to NWW, he has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Current 93, Coil, Stereolab, Tony Wakeford, and Faust. He also runs the United Dairies label, a key outlet for avant-garde music.

Beyond music, Stapleton is a visual artist and painter, and his dreamlike, often unsettling artworks regularly appear on his album covers. A true iconoclast, his four-decade career has helped redefine the boundaries of experimental sound and independent production.

-Squidco 4/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Un Drame Musical Instantane - Tunnel Sous La Manche - Under The Channel 12:02

2. Helene Sage - Frissons Dans La Cochlee 10:20

3. Sema - Anatomy Of Aphrodite 09:07

4. Nurse With Wound - The Strange Play Of The Mouth 08:51

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Sound, Noise, &c.
Field Recordings
Various Artists & Compilations
Jazz Reissues
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
SOUFFLE CONTINU RECORDS.


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