Bark Psychosis

1989年Bark Psychosis发表确立他们风格的首支单曲“All Different Things”，而1990年薄纱曼舞似的 “Nothing Feels”则是早期的突破之作，裸露出其晶莹透明的灵魂，是Bark Psychosis剔除肉身杂念的一个立意之作。Bark Psychosis成立于1986，由Graham Sutton和John Ling创办。他们几年间出版了4张光彩夺目的EP，之后和唱片公司Cheree产生了合同上的问题。这些EP里面的曲目后来收录在一些独立发行的合集里面。他们第一张而且是唯一正式专集直到93年底才发行。制作过程长达一年的《HEX》似乎滞后了乐队，可留给了我们的是一张完美的专集。

其实他们就这一张专辑——《Hex》1994年，以及三张单曲唱片，另外如精选辑《Independency》和《Game Over》也是不容错过的，Bark
Psychosis看起来那样的脆弱，他们有幸的是与外强中干无缘，“我只喜欢脆弱的人。我认为只有这样的人才是真正的活人（杜拉斯语），”这对于那些内心敏感的人往往需要更敏感的声光影像来慰籍的人，是多么可遇而不可求的幸福啊……

1990年代中后期另类则成了陈旧的代名词。几乎所有的另类摇滚人都对过去的黄金岁月致以敬意（虽然他们在概念的理解上有些不一致），并且他们都批判当代流行艺术的工业基础。整个另类音乐界显的那样的陈杂而又无序，每天都有新的声音出现，这些声音大都野心勃勃，发誓要做冲碎时代的浪尖，去搞出些什么与众不同的事。　

Bark Psychosis有着淡然而又优雅的特点，后来那些日子，Bark
Psychosis拒绝了抛头露面，寂寞的继续游走在后摇滚、实验音乐、氛围音乐的边缘，他们出奇的低调，甚至连歌词都不拿出来与乐迷们共享，却也乐于接受先锋作家们的采访，以及和一些他们喜欢的几乎不具有什么知名度的音乐人合作，所以你也就不会惊诧他们后来居然也染指爵士乐。

事实上，Bark Psychosis和那些未来派艺术家弥补了在英国独立音乐边缘不稳定的情况。Bark Psychosis注重的是音乐的层次感和循环；它们一直在融化成纯洁氛围的边缘，丰富多姿的心灵随着在死一般的寂静和震耳欲聋的噪音起舞和飘零。就象1990年华丽的第一张《All Different Things》中那些低语和尖叫一样，滴水般的钢琴，无力的感觉，焦虑的贝司，一切听起来都是那样的撼动血脉和心坎，而Bark Psychosis只是迷惘述说着伊甸园的精神。

如果说Bark Psychosis做为所谓先锋摇滚乐队的一队，直接的宗师应该是A.R.Kane 和My Bloody Valentine等80年代末期的新迷幻乐的先行者。象其他的先锋摇滚乐队一样，Bark Psychosis在两种极端之间转换，在剥离和激励的夸张间游荡。和其欣赏许多先锋摇滚同道一样，Bark Psychosis抛弃了普通的歌曲形式之后真正地进入了自己的内心并大步向前去探索完美的艺术结构。Bark Psychosis所做的音乐超越了内心中的死寂，在另外一面也真正地开始实现他们巨大的潜能。　

Bark Psychosis像是常常徘徊在浓雾蒸汽般的雨夜的街道氛围中，“每天晚上／街道在我身上留下印记……我不能找到出口”，他们的身影是蓝色的，凄切的和声和朦胧的钢琴奏响了是孤芳自赏的配乐，最后歌曲往往弱化成荒芜的音响氛围，滑向了伦敦郊外湿漉的青草地，在那里他们等待着一个暗红色黎明的落寞。
Despite a relatively small recorded output and little media recognition, Bark Psychosis was one of the most innovative artists of their era. From rather uninspired origins as a teenaged Napalm Death cover band, the British group evolved by leaps and bounds, moving from moody, lush pop to ambient soundscapes to taut, atmospheric experimental music; their work was so revolutionary, and so impossible to define, that noted critic Simon Reynolds even found it necessary to invent a new sub-genre — post-rock — simply to categorize their vision.

Bark Psychosis was founded in 1986 while its members were attending school in Snaresbrook, England; at the time of their formation, the average age of the group — vocalist Graham Sutton, bassist John Ling, and drummer Mark Simnott — was just 14-years-old. Drawing inspiration everywhere from Joy Division, Swans and Sonic Youth to Five Star and early Level 42, the quartet only began taking music seriously after Sutton and Lings graduation, and soon started composing original material. Upon signing to the tiny Cheree label, they debuted in 1988 with a flexi-disc release titled Clawhammer.

In 1989, Bark Psychosis resurfaced with their first proper single, All Different Things; the gauzy 1990 follow-up, Nothing Feels, was an early breakthrough, a haunting, sophisticated record backed with the equally stunning I Know. Keyboardist Daniel Gish, a former member of Disco Inferno, joined the band that year. Issued the following year, the Manman EP continued their remarkable growth, reflecting Suttons increasingly fascination with techno and the possibilties of synthesziers, programming and sampling while setting the stage for the 1992 landmark Scum, an ominous, 21-minute improvisational ambient masterpiece recorded live in a Stratford church.

At the peak of their powers, Bark Psychosis entered the studio in November 1992 to begin work on Hex, their long-awaited full-length debut. In sum, the LP took over a year to complete, forcing the group to the brink of emotional and financial collapse. Upon the records completion, a tour was planned in support of the single A Street Scene, but then Ling exited.

Even as Hex appeared to massive critical acclaim — Reynolds review of the album marked the first mention of the post-rock label, a tag later attached to similarly uncategorizable bands like Tortoise — Bark Psychosis was essentially dissolved, although one final single, the techno-inspired Blue, was issued by the end of 1994. The group officially disbanded in 1997; two posthumous retrospectives, 1994s Independency and 1997s Game Over, summed up their EPs and singles. In the wake of Bark Psychosis demise, Sutton and Gish plunged fully into the realm of drumnbass, recording under the name Boymerang. By the time Regal issued 1997s Balance of the Force, Boymerang was a solo outlet for Sutton. In 1999, Sutton began working on another Bark Psychosis album, with extensive help from former Talk Talk drummer and Boymerang contributor Lee Harris. That album, entitled Codename: Dustsucker, was set for release through Fire in March of 2004.