In The Nursery – Humberstone (Album – ITN Corporation)
Genre/Influences: Cinematic, Experimental.
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: This yearTwin brothers Klive and Nigel celebrate the fortieth anniversary of their music project In The Nursery. Better than releasing a ‘best of’ they accomplished a very special conceptual work which comes as a homage to their family.
Content: Humberstone family is a true fascinating family featuring a great uncle who was active during WWI, their late father who was a well-known animator who worked on some famous films or ancestors who went to New Zealand etc. In The Nursery transposed all these stories into a Cinematic composition featuring heavy orchestral arrangements and dreamy passages accentuated by subtle piano play but still heavier, bombastic, parts with guitar playing or Trip-Hop rhythms carrying another dreamy cut. A few guests contributed by cello-, trumpet- and drums.
+ + + : I’m into conceptual releases and this one is not only original and intimate but also fascinating. It also reveals a fascinating family story. A film could have been made but the twins adapted it into a great and entertaining Cinematic experience. There’re a few great songs featured but “Cookham Stone – The Painter” is a true sonic pearl. This album is filled with emotions characterized now by bombast and then by melancholia. Sometimes sad and sometimes a dark and menacing mood (like featured by the cool “Sulous – The Ploughmen”.
– – – : The very last part of the album sounds as a little antithesis to the great main part of the work.
Conclusion: It’s hard to say if In The Nursery has released after forty years their best album ever but it’s definitely one which will enter into history.
Best songs: “Cookham Stone – The Painter”, “Sulous – The Ploughmen”, “Emigre – The Dressmaker”.
Rate: 8.
Artist & Label: www.inthenursery.com / www.facebook.com/INTHENURSERY Read the news on ‘Humberstone’.
About In The Nursery
Formed in Sheffield, England in 1981 by twin brothers Klive Humberstone and Nigel Humberstone together with guitarist Anthony Bennett, In The Nursery emerged from the UK industrial scene with an early sound influenced by post-punk and experimental electronics. Their first mini-album “When Cherished Dreams Come True” appeared in 1983 on Paragon Records, followed by the single “Witness (To a Scream)” and the “Sonority” EP.
After moving to Sweatbox, the band issued the “Temper” EP in 1985, then recorded the full-length “Twins” without Bennett. Vocalist Dolores Marguerite C and percussionist Q joined during this period, contributing to the EP “Trinity” and to “Stormhorse”, their second album and first fully cinematic work described as a “soundtrack to an imaginary film”.
The 1988 album “Köda” completed their transition towards a classical-instrumental style, introducing computer sequencing and leading to licensing in the United States through Wax Trax!. During the early 1990s the group worked with Third Mind Records on albums such as “L’esprit” and “Sense”, followed by “Duality” and the film score “An Ambush of Ghosts”.
Subsequent releases such as “Anatomy of a Poet”, the silent-film rescoring projects “The Cabinet of Dr Caligari”, “Asphalt” and “Man with a Movie Camera”, and later albums on their own ITN Corporation imprint, reinforced their reputation for orchestrated, concept-driven records. The 2017 album “1961” revisited a pivotal year through a mix of historical and personal references, and in 2023 the duo issued an instrumental version with an additional track.
“Humberstone” arrived in 2022 on ITN Corporation as the family-focused album reviewed here, built around archive material and personal history. The brothers discussed those recordings in the In the Nursery interview published on Side-Line in April 2022.
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