In The Nursery open archive for ‘Soundtrack to an Imaginary Film (demos 1987-88)’ on Bandcamp
In The Nursery open archive for 'Soundtrack to an Imaginary Film (demos 1987-88)' on Bandcamp
Now this is really excellent news from the English neoclassical dark wave act In the Nursery. The Humberstone twin brothers Klive and Nigel will release the archival set “Soundtrack to an Imaginary Film [demos 1987-88]” on Friday 6 February 2026 via Bandcamp. The collection assembles rediscovered four-track cassette recordings from 1987–1988 that document the development of their albums “Stormhorse” and “Köda”, originally issued on Sweatbox Records.
Table of contents
In The Nursery ‘Soundtrack to an Imaginary Film’ demos background
The material on “Soundtrack to an Imaginary Film [demos 1987-88]” comes from Yamaha MTD44 four-track cassette sessions and includes both early sketches and unused ideas. These recordings capture formative stages of themes later refined on “Stormhorse” and “Köda”, including pieces where the group briefly explored adding saxophone to their arrangements.
“Stormhorse” was first released in 1987 as a “soundtrack to an imaginary film”, establishing the cinematic template that would shape the band’s subsequent work. “Köda” followed in 1988, further developing their classical-influenced, martial percussion-driven sound and introducing sequenced elements that became a core part of their production approach.
By presenting raw versions of tracks such as “Miracle of the Rose”, “Portamento”, “Hunting Theme”, “Empty Fortress”, “Nightshade” and “Tempest”, the new set provides a direct link between the cassette-based writing process and the final studio recordings issued on the original albums and later reissues.
Tracklist for “Soundtrack to an Imaginary Film [demos 1987-88]”
As you will notice below, several titles directly reference pieces from “Stormhorse” (“Tempest”, “The Empty Fortress”, “Hunting Theme”, “Portamento”, “Nightshade”) and “Köda” (“Ascent”), key compositions from this period in their original cassette form.
The digital release will include the following recordings:
- “Unused demo #1”
- “Unused demo #2”
- “Unused demo #3”
- “Unused demo #4”
- “Unused demo #5”
- “Unused demo #6”
- “Ascent [demo + sax]”
- “Miracle of the Rose [demo + sax]”
- “Unamed Koda demo #1”
- “Unamed Koda demo #2”
- “Ascent [demo]”
- “Unused idea #1”
- “Unused idea #2”
- “Unused idea #3”
- “Unused idea #4”
- “Miracle of the Rose II [demo – deep bass]”
- “Portamento [demo – deep bass]”
- “Hunting Theme [demo]”
- “Dolente [demo]”
- “Empty Fortress [demo + drums]”
- “Nightshade [demo]”
- “Tempest [demo]”
- “Stormhorse/Workcorps [demo]”
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 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.
In 2022, the family-focused album “H U M B E R S T O N E” followed, which we featured in large in this In the Nursery interview.
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