* En anglais uniquement
Simon Scott is best known as the drummer for dream pop pioneers
Slowdive, but he's also a prolific experimental ambient artist. A sound ecologist,
Scott's solo work fuses natural sounds, acoustic instrumentation, and digital processing, with a focus on active listening. Albums such as 2009's
Navigare, 2011's
Bunny, and 2015's Insomni blend dark ambient drone with frayed shoegaze textures.
Scott has collaborated with sound artists such as
Taylor Deupree,
Dag Rosenqvist, and
Marcus Fischer.
A native of Cambridge, England,
Scott first gained recognition as the drummer for
the Charlottes, a female-fronted indie pop band that formed during the late '80s.
Scott left the group in order to join
Slowdive in 1990, replacing that band's original drummer, Adrian Sell. After playing on
Just for a Day (1991) and
Souvlaki (1993),
Scott left
Slowdive prior to the recording of the band's third album. Briefly involved with
Chapterhouse at some point during the decade,
Scott later founded the short-lived noise pop group
Inner Sleeve in 1997. He joined
Lowgold in 1999, appearing on their 2001 debut album and participating in the group's tours with
Coldplay and
Grandaddy. After leaving the band in 2002, he formed
Televise, which expanded on the ideas of
Inner Sleeve. Their debut album, Songs to Sing in A&E, appeared in 2006; later recordings were more experimental solo affairs, pointing to the direction
Scott would take during his solo career.
Also during 2006,
Scott founded Kesh Recordings, an outlet for experimental artists such as Finland's Hannu (whom he also assisted with production and instrumentation),
Lorenzo Senni, and
Kane Ikin, in addition to
Scott's
Televise project. In 2007,
Scott and
ISAN's
Antony Ryan released a 7" single as
Seavault, containing covers of
Ultra Vivid Scene's "Mercy Seat" and
Altered Images' "I Could Be Happy." Two years later,
Scott released the first album under his name, the mostly drumless
Navigare, on Norway's Miasmah label. The busier year of 2010 involved the 16-minute piece Nivalis (Secret Furry Hole); the four-track EP
Traba (Immune); the half-hour piece Silenne (Slaapwel); and Conformists, the score to Juriaan Booij's film of the same name, which was recorded with
Dag Rosenqvist.
Scott also collaborated with
Rafael Anton Irisarri on
the Sight Below's It All Falls Apart, for which he was credited with guitar, treatments, and electronics.
Bunny, another album for the Miasmah label, was issued in 2011, as was a 7" single for Sonic Pieces.
After an appearance on Kompakt's
Pop Ambient 2012 compilation,
Below Sea Level was issued on 12k, as was Between, the self-titled album of a quintet featuring
Scott,
Taylor Deupree,
Marcus Fischer,
Corey Fuller, and
Tomoyoshi Date. After participating in
Slowdive's reunion tours in 2014,
Scott returned to his solo career in 2015 with the release of Insomni on Ash International. The live recording FloodLines appeared on Touch in 2016, and the STUK cassette was released by The Tapeworm in early 2017. Also that year,
Scott played on
Slowdive's self-titled reunion album. Shape Memory, a collaboration with
Fischer, appeared on 12k in 2018, followed by Grace, a solo EP on Touch. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson