Homotopy to Marie
Encyclopedia
Homotopy To Marie is the fifth album by Nurse With Wound
, released in 1982.
Although Nurse With Wound had generated considerable interest across their preceding releases, Steven Stapleton
has asserted to author David Keenan
that Homotopy To Marie should be considered the first "real" NWW album. In Keenan's book England's Hidden Reverse, Stapleton states that this was the first album he made without intervention, the original trio line-up having dispersed in 1980. Although J. G. Thirlwell
participated in some of the sessions and is thanked on the album's sleeve, this is effectively a Steven Stapleton solo album and he would retain sole curatorship of NWW from this point onwards.
The album was the result of a block booking made by Stapleton at IPS Studios in London, reserving every Friday evening (6pm - midnight) for a whole year. It is, as Keenan notes, audibly less musically conventional than its predecessors and relies on Stapleton's improving abilities of tape-editing and construction, honed during these Friday evening sessions. The Audion Guide To Nurse With Wound states that the album is "a step on from the Dadaist rock of Merzbild Schwet, with much use of tape manipulation and classical avant-garde techniques" http://www.brainwashed.com/nww/words/audion.html with Allmusic using keywords including unsettling, volatile, eerie and nocturnal to describe the feel of the album which combined tape edits with resonating gong tones and disembodied children's voices to create a sonic collage far removed from the harsh improvisations of the group's early albums. The sleeve credits include a declaration that the record was inspired by Franz Kamin
.
The album was issued on Stapleton's own United Dairies label in an initial pressing of 5,000, five times as many as predecessor Insect and Individual Silenced
. It was also issued on cassette. A compact disc edition was released in 1992 with alternate artwork (pictured) and an additional contemporaneous recording, "Astral Dustbin Dirge", which had been omitted from the original formats for reasons of length. All copies of the CD suffered from a mastering fault which caused the index point between tracks 2 and 3 to occur 3 minutes earlier than it should. The titles of most of the tracks were also abbreviated on this edition. The album went out of print when distributor World Serpent went out of business but was reissued on United Jnana in June 2007 in remastered form, with the correct index points and the original track titles restored.
As mentioned above, early CD pressings had the final three minutes of "Homotopy to Marie" as part of "Astral Dustbin Durge", leaving track times of 13:37 and 15:19, respectively. The 2007 reissue corrected this indexing error.
Nurse with Wound
Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...
, released in 1982.
Although Nurse With Wound had generated considerable interest across their preceding releases, Steven Stapleton
Steven Stapleton
Steven Peter Stapleton is a British musician and the only constant member of experimental improv outfit Nurse with Wound...
has asserted to author David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan is a Scottish author, critic and musician. He is the author of England's Hidden Reverse, a biography of Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound, a regular contributor to The Wire since 1995, and proprietor of Volcanic Tongue, a shop, distributor, record label and mailorder business that...
that Homotopy To Marie should be considered the first "real" NWW album. In Keenan's book England's Hidden Reverse, Stapleton states that this was the first album he made without intervention, the original trio line-up having dispersed in 1980. Although J. G. Thirlwell
J. G. Thirlwell
James George Thirlwell , aka Clint Ruin, aka Frank Want, aka Foetus, is an Australian vocalist, composer and record producer...
participated in some of the sessions and is thanked on the album's sleeve, this is effectively a Steven Stapleton solo album and he would retain sole curatorship of NWW from this point onwards.
The album was the result of a block booking made by Stapleton at IPS Studios in London, reserving every Friday evening (6pm - midnight) for a whole year. It is, as Keenan notes, audibly less musically conventional than its predecessors and relies on Stapleton's improving abilities of tape-editing and construction, honed during these Friday evening sessions. The Audion Guide To Nurse With Wound states that the album is "a step on from the Dadaist rock of Merzbild Schwet, with much use of tape manipulation and classical avant-garde techniques" http://www.brainwashed.com/nww/words/audion.html with Allmusic using keywords including unsettling, volatile, eerie and nocturnal to describe the feel of the album which combined tape edits with resonating gong tones and disembodied children's voices to create a sonic collage far removed from the harsh improvisations of the group's early albums. The sleeve credits include a declaration that the record was inspired by Franz Kamin
Franz Kamin
Franz Kamin was a prolific American author, composer, and pianist whose works were modelled on topology, general systems theory, meditational processes, and chance operations....
.
The album was issued on Stapleton's own United Dairies label in an initial pressing of 5,000, five times as many as predecessor Insect and Individual Silenced
Insect and Individual Silenced
Insect and Individual Silenced was the fourth album by Nurse With Wound.The album was recorded in 1981 with core member Steven Stapleton being joined by drummer Trevor Reidy and J. G. Thirlwell of Foetus for the track "Absent Old Queen Underfoot". Reidy and Thirlwell worked in the same Virgin store...
. It was also issued on cassette. A compact disc edition was released in 1992 with alternate artwork (pictured) and an additional contemporaneous recording, "Astral Dustbin Dirge", which had been omitted from the original formats for reasons of length. All copies of the CD suffered from a mastering fault which caused the index point between tracks 2 and 3 to occur 3 minutes earlier than it should. The titles of most of the tracks were also abbreviated on this edition. The album went out of print when distributor World Serpent went out of business but was reissued on United Jnana in June 2007 in remastered form, with the correct index points and the original track titles restored.
Side one
- "I Cannot Feel You as the Dogs Are Laughing and I Am Blind" – 10:14
- "Homotopy to Marie" – 16:37
Side two
- "The Schmürz (Unsullied by Suckling)" – 24:54
- "The Tumultuous Upsurge (Of Lasting Hatred)" – 1:25
CD edition
- "I Cannot Feel You as the Dogs Are Laughing and I Am Blind" – 10:14
- "Homotopy to Marie" – 16:37
- "Astral Dustbin Durge" – 12:19
- "The Schmürz (Unsullied by Suckling)" – 24:54
- "The Tumultuous Upsurge (of Lasting Hatred)" – 1:25
As mentioned above, early CD pressings had the final three minutes of "Homotopy to Marie" as part of "Astral Dustbin Durge", leaving track times of 13:37 and 15:19, respectively. The 2007 reissue corrected this indexing error.