Zoviet France - Biography
The early ‘80s were an extremely fertile time for experimental music in England. From the fractured post-punk of bands like This Heat and the Raincoats to the dark experiments of post-industrial sound artists like Nurse With Wound, the country seemed to be heaving forth a great amount of inspired and daring underground music. Zoviet France (also written :$oviet:France: or :zoviet*france:) was prime movers at this time. The mysterious, constantly rotating collective released a huge amount of sonically adventurous work throughout the ‘80s that continues today. Despite being one of the most interesting and active post-industrial groups of its time, Zoviet France’s music unfortunately remains less celebrated than the work of many of its peers.
Formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England in 1980, Zoviet France’s membership remained anonymous in the early years. We now know the group has had quite a large amount of members fall through its ranks, including founding member Ben Ponton, Lisa Hale, Peter Jensen, Neil Ramshaw, Robin Storey (who also records as Rapoon), Paolo Di Paolo, Mark Spybey (who records as Dead Voices on Air), and Andy Eardley. Currently the lineup consists mainly of Ponton, the group’s only constant, and Mark Warren.
In operation for almost three decades, Zoviet France has a vast body of work, with releases often appearing in limited editions and thus extremely hard to find. While a good amount of the group’s early work has been reissued on CD, some titles are still impossible to track down. The sound of the early records combines musique concrete techniques, primitive power electronics, and tribal percussion to form a harsh, detailed take on post-industrial noise music. Often more caustic than peers like Nurse With Wound or Throbbing Gristle, Zoviet France sounds downright brutal on albums like 1982’s self-titled release (often referred to as “the hessian record” due to being packaged in a burlap sack) and Garista. Ponton, Storey, and Jensen kick up an acidic, heavily textured black hole of noise on these records.
Many fans feel that Zoviet France reached a tremendous high point the following year with the massive Mohnomishe album. The record takes the extreme noise levels down a bit in order to make room for some truly exquisite drone and ambient constructions. Classic tape music is combined with minimalist drone and shimmering ambient electronics augmented by hypnotic percussion for one of the best experimental records of the ‘80s, and surely a gem in this group’s vast catalog. That Zoviet France was able to coax these deeply detailed textures using only cheap and homemade electronics is stunning. Many later experimental composers do much less with the aid of digital technology.
While the group continues to embrace elements of harsh noise in its music, the forward movement away from these elements toward a more finely detailed atmospheric music continued throughout the ‘80s. The releases kept coming with standouts including the gorgeously haunting Eostre from 1984, 1986’s Gesture Signal Threat, 1987’s Assault and Mirage, and 1988’s outstanding Shouting at the Ground. Over this period the group melded trance-inducing electronic ambience and shifting, heavily processed loops with tribal percussion, incorporating various instrumentation like Middle Eastern strings and primitive flutes along the way. These elements from various ethnic folk traditions never seem hokey or overwrought in the hands of Zoviet France. Rather the group distorts these elements to fit into its unique soundworld with mesmerizing results.
The collective had a surge of creativity entering the ‘90s, releasing no less than seven albums between 1990 and 1993. It continued that activity into the ‘90s, with standout records including 1990’s Shadow, Thief of the Sun, a twenty-five minute contribution to a compilation also featuring Jim O’Rourke and The Hafler Trio titled Unentitled, and 1996’s Digilogue. While Zoviet France is fairly reclusive and do not often play live, several excellent documents of live performances were released in the ‘90s, including 1991’s Vienna 1990, 1996’s in.version, and Mort Aux Vaches: Feedback in 1998. While releases slowed in the late ‘90s, several great records have surfaced in the new millennium including the stark guitar ambience of 2000’s The Decriminalisation of Country Music and 1008’s extremely limited Shteirlel 8” record. Ponton has said that less than 5% of the music Zoviet France has recorded has been publically released. With that percentage in mind we’re sure to receive further gifts from this utterly unique and constantly evolving collective.
