Navigator

== History ==
Navigator formed at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in late 1994, animated by a shared love of American post-hardcore groups such as Codeine and Slint, and a desire to contribute to the wave of British post-rock groups emerging in the wake of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. Initially underscored with an introspective melancholy superficially comparable to that of Tindersticks, they moved progressively away from conventional song structure, embracing silence, noise, free improvisation, electronics, and primitive instrument building over the course of their six active years.
Their first single, 'Killtaker' (Noisebox nbx022, green vinyl), appeared in 1996, and blended tense passages of dissonant guitar with caustic bursts of feedback, scarcely-audible baritone vocals and inventive, melodic bass playing. A pressing of 500 sold out in three weeks, supported by airplay on BBC Radio One's John Peel Show, and a second single, 'A Little Astronomy' (Noisebox nbx026, blue vinyl), issued later that year, was similarly successful; it was, however, a significantly more understated affair - a 'tender waltz of dark nursery melodies, with organ layered beneath crisp, interweaving post-slint guitars'.
Shortly thereafter, guitarist Matthew Walsh took a sabbatical, necessitating a reconfiguration of the group's sound; the seven-and-a half minute single 'When the Wires Fall' (Noisebox nbx027, red vinyl) was significantly more subdued, rejecting percussion in favour of funereal clarinet, violin and piano. Issued in a pressing of 750 in early 1997, the record constituted a commercial high-point for Navigator, following significant national press coverage. This interest served to catapult the band into the independent artists' 'top-ten' chart and onto Saturday morning telly via ITV's The Chart Show. Navigator completed a short UK tour in support of the single, including shows in London with Low and David Thomas (Pere Ubu), and in Edinburgh and Glasgow arranged by and playing with supportive contemporaries, Mogwai.
Despite being courted by a number of record companies, the band were becoming increasingly committed to moving away from the song-based structures of the early singles, experimenting instead with homemade instrumentation, and exploring free improvisation. Walsh returned for a fourth and final (four-sided) single for Noisebox, 'Assay EP' (nbx028/nbx028cd, clear vinyl), which featured an extended range of instrumentation, studio experimentation with found objects, and, surprisingly, given a growing commitment to improvisation, a more complex and often intricate approach to orchestration. Material from the EP found an extended audience via coverage on Robert Worby's BBC Radio Three new and avant-garde music programme, Hear and Now.
Navigator spent the summer touring, again with Mogwai, recruiting kindred spirit and Mogwai adoptee Brendan O'Hare (Teenage Fanclub; Telstar Ponies; Fiend; Macrocosmica) as percussionist following the hospitalisation of drummer Sam Richards early in the tour. The band played broadly improvised sets, often extremely quiet and marked by long periods of silence. The tour ended with the now-legendary equipment-obliterating show at the Garage, Highbury with Mogwai and Arab Strap. 
In August 1997, Melia, Robottom, and Walsh, minus the departed Richards, recorded a debut album for Swarf Finger Records. Nostalgie (SF032) was recorded at Purple Studios, Trowse, with Richard Hammerton and Nigel Harris, with additional work undertaken in Bristol by Melia and Matt Elliott (Third Eye Foundation). The difficult, bleak but often moving record marked a significant departure from previous releases, featuring pieces for unaccompanied guitar ('MyGrolshy') and tape ('Menlo Park'), alongside the weightless drift of 'Beaching', the wordless graveside lament of 'O. Massa', and the incessant, slow death-march of 'Throw another receptor on the fire'. Navigator supported the release with a handful of increasingly radical semi-improvised shows with Mogwai, David Pajo (Slint, Papa M, Tortoise), Labradford, and Stars of the Lid; while the album often showcased the quieter side of the group, the accompanying gigs reembraced noise and explored extended-duration, featuring live electronics and processed brass and woodwind. 
In 1999, Navigator were invited to perform at the Ils Ne Mauron Pas festival in Northern France, alongside a number of bands associated with the Chemikal Underground label. Navigator's set consisted of a fifteen-minute rendition of 'Horsey' from the Nostalgie album, and a new, meditative composition entitled 'Yoko', after which they disappeared for six years.
Navigator reunited very briefly for two shows in 2005, with Melia, Robottom and Walsh augmented by Laura Cannell (violin), Andre Bosman (guitar, electronics), Alex Sanders (piano), Mel Puga (percussion), and Liam Wells (films). They played selections from Nostalgie and the earlier singles, as well as entirely new material.
A CD-R compilation album of Navigator's early singles for the Noisebox Records label remains available via Burning Shed Records. The disc adds "II (novo)", a remix of 'Assay II' originally issued on a cover-mounted cd compilation accompanying the Sessions magazine, and a Third Eye Foundation remix of the Assay EP, originally issued as a single on the Amberley label (amy 008).
== Personnel ==
* Nicholas Melia
* Matthew Walsh
* Jennifer Robottom
* Samuel Richards (1994-1997)
Known additional or occasional musicians:
* Kate Day (violin)
* Matthew White (trumpet)
* Brendan O'Hare (Percussion)
* Laura Cannell (Violin)
* Andre Bosman (Guitar; electronics)
* Alexander Sanders (Piano)
* Mel Puga (Percussion)
* Liam Wells (Films)
== Discography ==
Killtaker//Swing/We Will All Burn Togethernbx022 - 7" green vinyl - Noisebox records (1996)
A Little Astronomy/At the End of the Daynbx026 - 7" blue vinyl - Noisebox records (1996)hand-made blue and silver slip sleeve
When the Wires Fall/Impossible Without...nbx027 - 7" red vinyl - Noisebox records (1997)hand-made red and silver slip sleeve
Assay EPDisc 1: Assay I/Assay IIDisc 2: Diving Bell/On all you Hold Sacrednbx028 - double 7" clear vinyl - Noisebox records (1997)hand-made green and silver slip sleeve
Assay EP (CD)Assay I/Diving Bell/On all you Hold Sacrednbx028cd - CDS - Noisebox records (1997)
Nostalgiesf032cd - LP - Vinyl - Swarf Finger (1998)My Grolshy/ Assay/ Horsey/ Dorothy Carter// Menlo Park/ O. Maasa/ Beaching/ Throw Another Receptor on the Fire 
Nostalgie (CD)sf032cd - cdlp - Swarf Finger (1998)My Grolshy/ Assay/ Horsey/ Dorothy Carter/ Menlo Park/ O. Maasa/ Beaching/ Throw Another Receptor on the Fire
Assay (Third Eye Foundation Remix)/Assay (Fulcrum Overhaul Remix)amy 008 7" - Amblerley records (1998)
Noisebox Singles (1996 - 1997)Noisebox records (2001)Assay I/ Diving Bell/ On all you hold sacred/ Assay II/ When the Wires Fall/ Impossible Without.../A Little Astronomy/ At the End of the Day/ Killtaker/ Swing/ We will all Burn Together/ II (Novo)/ Assay (Third Eye Foundation Remix) 
== External Links ==
Noisebox compilation album
Category:Band