BLACK BOX RECORDER (ABO #059)

THE SEX LIFE OF
BLACK BOX RECORDER

Black Box Recorder included Auteurs main man Luke Haines, former Jesus and Mary Chain member John Moore, and vocalist Sarah Nixey. Like the Auteurs, Black Box Recorder's songs commented on the state of English affairs, both social and personal, often using character sketches that exposed the less-than-pleasant with sharp frankness and simplicity. Domesticity and childhood themes often ran through their albums. Coming together in 1998 as Haines kept his primary vehicle operable, the trio introduced themselves with their first single ("Child Psychology") being banned from U.K. radio for the line "Life is unfair/Kill yourself or get over it."
The full-length England Made Me followed later in the year, establishing Moore and Haines as a songwriting team that excelled at getting its points across with the least amount of instrumentation necessary. Raw and minimal but still perversely pop, Nixey's detached and fragile-yet-rich voice (usually kept up front in the mix) provided the ideal characteristics for their songs. Two other albums and a compilation of rare tracks followed this debut confirming the band's talent to simple melodies and sarcastic lyrics.
Though the band is not currently active, they have not officially split.

1. Girl Singing In The Wreckage
2. New Baby Boom

3. Ideal Home
4. Child Psychology
5. Swinging
6. Kidnapping An Heiress
7. The Art Of Diving
8. Sex Life
9. The Facts Of Life

10. Straight Life
11 . Gift Horse
12. Seasons In The Sun
13. Start As You Mean To Go
14. Wonderful Life
15. Gsoh Q.E.D.
16. Being Number One
17. The New Diana

18. Girl's Guide For The Modern Diva