I spent part of today listening to some
Northern Picture Library MP3s I found on AudioGalaxy. I must say they were good; somewhat more sparse and experimental in places than the
Field Mice's output, and going to some interesting places (from the ambient trance of
The Way That Stars Die to
Love Song For The Dead Che, an excursion into Dubstar/Single Gun Theory territory, to the various exercises in
Humblebee-style noise), along with some very nice soundscapes (
Catholic Easter Colours comes to mind).
There's a real sense of evolution there; it's interesting to imagine what may have happened had the crash not put paid to it.
But of course, it didn't go on like that. She left him and he put out four
(and counting) Prozac-bland albums about it, never again approaching the
aesthetic level or heartfelt sincerity of earlier projects.
I wonder whether any of the Northern Picture Library material is still, by any chance, in print...