Experimental electronica with the word juxtaposed - this review has got everything!

By Mark Bosley

Things seem to be looking up for Science Never Sleeps. Recently winners of Demo of the Month in Nightshift, the band have since received their first radio play on Passion FM and launched a website.

Science Never Sleeps playing at the Cellar - Photo by Chris Caswell

Tonight they find themselves opening at the Cellar on a bill that includes mischievous DJ Nervous Test Pilot and Tortoise/Radiohead influenced the Normal. Somehow Science Never Sleeps are a bridge between the solid state assault of the former and the real instrument dominated experimentation of the latter. They are comprised of former Eeebleee member Tim Day on vocals, electric guitar and laptop computer and Emma Chapman on violin. They describe themselves as 'weird electronica'. It is this marriage of two very organic instruments and a voice with the clinical output of the laptop which is one of the band's great strengths.

Before they take the stage it is hard to predict precisely what is in store. Music stands and violin are juxtaposed with Marshall amplification and a computer seemingly representing three generations of popular music. From the opening Got Radar it quickly becomes clear that it is not folk, rock or techno but very modern, richly textured, atmospheric music like a melancholy film soundtrack. The violin, far from being an anachronism, is as integral part of Science Never Sleeps, whether plucked on the eerie 'Balka' or bowed on the more aggressive 'Hymn to Nothing'. Samples contribute greatly to the timbre of the songs. 'Space Dust' cheekily weaves 2001's 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' and predictions of global catastrophe into its structure.

More recording and post production is already underway and a further demo is in the offing. Perhaps Science Never Sleeps deserve to be higher up this admittedly fine bill.