photo by Chris Gabrin
Cold Spring have announced a first-ever CD release of ‘Sky Yen’, the experimental electronic recording made by Pete Shelley (1955-2018) in March 1974, two years before he co-founded the legendary Buzzcocks in the early days of the punk era.
Studying in Bolton at the time and fronting the group Jets of Air, Shelley had enrolled in an electronics course (before switching to philosophy and European literature) and made his own oscillator, which was utilised to record ’Sky Yen’ on a two-track tape recorder, adding echo and other effects to create a series of extended sounds built from electronic tones, drones, feedback and noise.
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Shelley’s approach was literally hands-on. His oscillator responded to physical contact, meaning that even touching the circuitry could change the sounds it produced. The resulting recording has a raw, spontaneous quality that reflects both the limitations and possibilities of the equipment he was using.
Still a teenager, Shelley had been listening to German experimental electronic music, notably Tangerine Dream and Cluster, but also Kraftwerk, Can and Faust. Their influence helped to open up a different soundworld for him to explore and emulate, far removed from the conventional rock and pop scene of the mid-‘70s.
‘Sky Yen’ would eventually be released by Shelley himself on his Groovy Records label in April 1980, following the international success of Buzzcocks. It became a fascinating and unexpected chapter in the story of one of Britain’s most individual musicians and songwriters.
Its release revealed just how broad Shelley’s musical interests were. While audiences knew him for the concise, melodic songs that helped define British punk and post-punk, ‘Sky Yen’ demonstrated that his interest in electronic experimentation went back to the very beginning of his recording career.
Shelley’s next release was the 1981 single ‘Homosapien’ (written in 1974 as a Jets of Air song), a synth-pop milestone co-produced by Shelley with Martin Rushent in the latter’s home studio. Signalling a return to his interest in electronic music after three albums with Buzzcocks, it was followed by an album of the same title that also included several other songs written in the mid-‘70s. Meanwhile, Rushent’s elaborate drum machine and programming work laid the groundwork for another album he began producing concurrently, ‘Dare’ by The Human League.