Trembling Blue Stars was the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based band based music project of Robert Wratten, started in 1996. Later consisting of Harvey Williams, Jonathan Akerman, Keris Howard, Michael Hiscock, and Beth Arzy who replaced Annemari Davies in 2000. Initially begun as a

side project In popular music, a side project is a project undertaken by one or more people already known for their involvement in another band. It can also be an artist or a band temporarily switching to a different style. Usually these projects emphasize ...

of Wratten's previous band Northern Picture Library, Trembling Blue Stars became Wratten's main band when Northern Picture Library broke up in 1995. Wratten took the name of his band from '' The Story of O'' by

Pauline Réage Anne Cécile Desclos (23 September 1907 – 27 April 1998) was a French journalist and novelist who wrote under the pen names Dominique Aury and Pauline Réage. She is best known for her erotic novel '' Story of O'' (1954). Early life Born ...

. Trembling Blue Stars are characterized by melancholic songs with shimmering guitars and introspective lyrics. Many of their early lyrics address Wratten's relationship with Annemari Davies, who had been in

The Field Mice The Field Mice were an English indie rock band on the independent record label Sarah Records. They had top 20 success in both the singles and albums UK Independent Charts. Career The Field Mice initially formed as a duo from South London subur ...

and Northern Picture Library with him. The first Trembling Blue Stars album, '' Her Handwriting'', was released in 1996 on Shinkansen Recordings (the successor of Sarah Records), to critical acclaim. Wratten afterwards assembled a band, which at various times included Davies, Gemma Townley, Cath Carroll and

Ian Catt Ian Catt is a British record producer and multi-instrumentalist associated with several popular indie groups, including Saint Etienne, with whom he has been a touring member. He has also collaborated with Saint Etienne's vocalist Sarah Cracknell ...

, as well as Michael Hiscock, Keris Howard (previously of the Sarah Records-era band Brighter) and Harvey Williams. Producer

has worked on every Trembling Blue Stars release. ''Lips That Taste of Tears'', the band's second album, was released in April 1997. The album received acclaim again, although the group proved reluctant to tour extensively. ''Broken By Whispers'', their third long player, was released in 2000 and saw them getting more press and radio play. "Dark Eyes" was voted Single of the Week on Mark Radcliffe's show on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. The overall mood was melancholic, but ''Broken By Whispers'' saw the band experimenting with more bass and synth sounds. Indeed, this album was picked up by

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to Places * Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, IATA code SUB Computing and technology * , an HTML tag for subscript * SUB designate ...

and gave the band their first release in North America. They also recorded a live session on the John Peel show in 2001. In 2001, Trembling Blue Stars released ''Alive To Every Smile'', which still featured Annemari Davies on vocals, along with Beth Arzy. The album was widely acclaimed and added more synth and beats, notably to one of their best known songs, "The Ghost of an Unkissed Kiss", which combined a dance-pop sensibility with more traditional indie sounds. Multiple EP releases appeared in between albums. The band also gathered together singles for the compilation ''A Certain Evening Light'' in 2003. In 2005, their fifth album ''The Seven Autumn Flowers'' was released on

Bar/None Records Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Early history Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Having previously worked in pirate radio and booked and promoted bands in his na ...

in both the USA and UK after a break with Shinkansen. A brief mini-tour of the US in late 2005 promoted it. Their sixth album ''The Last Holy Writer'' was released through

Elefant Records Elefant Records is an independent record label based in Madrid, Spain. History Elefant Records was founded in 1989 by Luis Calvo as an offshoot of a fanzine he produced called "La Línea del Arco". In 2014, the label's 25th anniversary was celeb ...

in 2007, with tracks from it featured in the Australian feature film '' The Sculptor''. Trembling Blue Stars issued their seventh album ''Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires'' in October 2010, but split at the end of that year following the release of a final farewell EP, ''Correspondence''.

Discography

Albums

*'' Her Handwriting'', April 1996 *''Lips That Taste of Tears'', February 1998 *''Broken by Whispers'', February 2000 *''Alive to Every Smile'', October 2001 *''The Seven Autumn Flowers'', January 2005 *''The Last Holy Writer'', April 2007 *''Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires'', October 2010

EPs/Singles

*''ABBA on the Jukebox'', 1996 *''The Rainbow'', November 1997 *''Dark Eyes'', October 1999 *''Doo-Wop Music'', 1999 *''She Just Couldn't Stay'', January 2000 *''Ghost of an Unkissed Kiss'', September 2001 *''Slow Soft Sighs'', April 2002 *''Southern Skies Appear Brighter'', June 2004 *''Bathed In Blue'', March 2005 *''Beautiful Blank'', 2007 *''Exploring the Shadows'', November 2007 *''Correspondence'', 2011

Anthologies

*''A Certain Evening Light'', June 2003

Side Projects

The Occasional Keepers, ''The Beauty of an Empty Vessel'', 2005 Love Goes On (Tribute to Grant McLennan), November 2007 Future Conditional, ''We Don't Just Disappear'', 2007 The Occasional Keepers, ''True North'', 2008

References

External links

MySpace page
* ttp://www.bar-none.com/artist_detail.php?recordID=Trembling%20Blue%20Stars Trembling Blue Stars biography by Michael Hill of Bar None Recordsbr>Trembling Blue Stars at LTM
{{Authority control British indie pop groups Musical groups from London Bar/None Records artists