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Theme are essentially presently a trio based in Krakow (Poland), Leicester (UK) and Paris (France). They began life when (the recently reactivated) Splintered, their previous band, reached a standstill in a generally typical 'Rock 'n' Roll' sea of foul tempers, ego-trippin', loss of sanity and narcotics sometime around the end of 1997, following a short European tour partly designed to promote the fifth and what at the time was deemed the last CD album (an eponymous collaboration with Germany's wonderful RLW). The debut album by Theme then took a painstaking amount of time and travelling to put together and finally appeared in 2000, titled 'On Parallel Shores Removed', on both founding member Richard Johnson's Fourth Dimension imprint and Tremor Recordings. At the time, and until 2006, Theme were a trio comprising Stuart Carter and Hassni Malik besides the aforementioned Richard Johnson. However, following the release of the second CD album, 'Our Angels Dislocated' (on Lumberton Trading Company), during mid-2006, Hassni Malik departed from the band to focus on his involvement with Brighton collective, The Vitamin B12, some solo endeavours and his paintings. In May 2007, Jeanne Boyer then replaced Hassni Malik as a (part-time) member helping with both live and recorded work.

The music Theme play utilises a blend of real (often stringed or eastern) instruments, field recordings and found sounds in a digital environment which neither confines them or loses sight of the organic sources. All of the instruments which can be heard are real and, likewise, nearly all other sounds are generated by Theme themselves, or occasional collaborators. Always moving and evolving, Theme attempt to explore all the possibilities which unfurl before them whilst simultaneously trying to avoid becoming too clinical, methodical, cold or detached in the process. The idea being to either channel or evoke the spaces Theme feel (un)comfortable in themselves; the state where perhaps calmness and numbness collide alongside too many convoluted thoughts, reflections and barely formed dreams. The space between consciousness and subconsciousness...

A third album will appear in August/September 2009 on Israel's HCB Recordings. Unlike the previous two, it features more in the way of vocals and voices. Titled 'Valentine (Lost) Forever' it is a richer affair concerned with bitterness, abstract thought and those lines between past and present where all notions of the 'self' can feel abandoned, lost or without meaning or purpose. Created from personal experience, late night recording sessions obscured by plumes of green smoke, the continued bouncing around of ideas prodded and poked at for at least two years, contemplation, and a little inspiration from Scott Walker's 'The Drift', it's the most 'song'-orientated work Theme have done so far. A remix by Steven Severin also features. At more or less the same time, Theme appear on a limited edition album on Lumberton Trading Company called 'Autumn Blood (Constructions)' with a piece titled 'Nothing Here'. Other contributors include kindred spirits such as Peter Christopherson, Volga, Steven Severin, Lawrence English, Birds Build Nests Underground, Human Greed (with LeeDVD), Formication, Sion Orgon, Zenial/Banabila, Andrew Liles and Colin Potter.

More information will follow soon.

Meanwhile, here are a few reviews of 'Our Angels Dislocated':

"Our Angels Dislocated is the third release from Lumberton Trading Company and the second release from the in-house band Theme, featuring label curators Richard Johnson and Hassni Malik, with Stuart Carter. Our Angels Dislocated features soft, unfocussed drifting atmospheres where each of the five tracks flow into each other, allowing the listener to take it as one piece or as individual tracks. Where there previous release On Parallel Shores Removed toyed with beats and post-rock mannerisms Our Angels Dislocated has a lightness of touch with nothing hurried or overworked. Sounds emerge and evaporate amidst a dark but not threatening atmosphere. On 'Repeat To Fade' waves of hushed electronics ebb and flow, picking up and discarding repeated guitar notes, isolated piano chords whilst a machine throb pulses continuously throughout. Towards the end a quietly spoken verse appears. The droning pipes and reverbed keyboards that appear on 'A Few Words Failed' merge with location recordings in a downbeat psychedelic manner. Eastern instrumentation adds a surprising spiritual dimension, especially on 'East of Now' where a cyclical keyboard billows attain a soothing tranquil effect before some chanting takes it on a much more meditative journey. Our Angels Dislocated is a minimal affair fusing organic, electronic and found sound in a low-key release that is introspective and quietly effective."

(Review from Compulsion Online)

"A trio that splits their time between Poland and UK, Theme are a project who takes their ambience quite seriously. Even though their second release "Our Angels Dislocated" is a mere 45 minutes in length, it still manages to instil that unique ambient feel from beginning to its dying breath. Stuart Carter, Richard Johnson and Hassni Malik utilize field recordings, found sounds, sitar, piano, violin, cello all processed through a digital environment. This isn't really ambient music in the still mode. It has more of a flowing quality to it. Almost like a river, it simply meanders smoothly, uninterrupted from one theme to the next. Truth is, everything feel natural, including this persistent split second, steam release noise that accompanies the album from the outset. Otherwise, gentle violin movements along with occasional piano lines and sitar passages makethemselves known for brief periods of time. Almost like prank telemarketers who call you at the worst time of the night - they appears one minute and are gone the next. Perfect sleep-inducing music or something you may want to use as a mind soother of sorts. Like a fog, Theme draws you in and before you know it, you're in "their" world. Minimal to the core but brimming with ideas for future albums on the road ahead, Theme are an outfit that will surely do interesting things in years to come."

(Review by Tom Sekowski for Vivo Records' Gaz-eta)

"These Lumberton Corp. boys are certainly the king-pins when it comes down to eye-catching sleeve art. At first glance the cover of Theme’s latest CD resembles a Martian TV test-card, with a weird silvery contraption (c/o sculptor Mo Jupp) in the process of beaming out signals to the population of the red planet. The ‘Our Angels Dislocated’ release is an intermittent project that began in 2002, a couple of years after their debut (on Parallel Shores Removed) emerged. This was an album that radiated several shades of dark, via formless / imposing synthetic gauze, found sound flotsam and electroid chatter. In the interim, ‘O.A.D.’ has cultivated an array of more arresting tonal colours though the trio of Richard Johnson, Hassni Malik and Stuart Carter are more inclined to embrace the purples, mauves and yellows of bruised flesh than optimism’s blue skies and bright shiny rainbows. Their arsenal of eclectic instrumentation can set the ancient world against the unknown, as in ‘Jisatsu’, a loop and backwards guitar vignette, and ‘A Few Words Failed’ where further textures from the Indian sub-continent are overshadowed by the movement of what seems to be a set of vast sliding steel doors. ‘East of Now’ is a firm favourite and edges back to European shores. It’s moog (I think) and organ loop paints a picture of a rather severe, early Cluster experiment but those traces of early Krautrock are ushered out as a monastic choir (recently activated from suspended animation) enter from the wings. A sympatico production by Sion Orgon (who can also be found on the previous album as an “audio mulcher”) has seen Theme calmly step out of their own skins and into some inter-dimensional ghost world. A subtle transformation for the trio and one that should certainly fascinate anyone into the cutting edge of filmic soundcraft."

(Review by Steve Pescott, Terrascope)