Nurse With Wound

Cabaret, nursery rhymes, easy listening and the Beach Boys all drift through Steven Stapleton's recordings, spliced together with playful tape loops and edits. Musique concrète is the clearest touchstone, filtered through his fondness for dada, surrealism and absurd humour.

The project began in 1978 as a trio with John Fothergill and Heman Pathak, cutting hasty pieces shaped by krautrock and free improvisation that were usually filed as industrial, despite their objections. By 1981 only Stapleton remained, and he regards Homotopy to Marie (1982) as the first proper release.

More than 40 albums have since wandered through noise, drone and dark ambient, nearly all with cover art by Stapleton, much of it credited to 'Babs Santini'. After 21 years away from the stage, he returned to live performance in 2005.