Flying Saucer Attack

by Jason Ankeny
 
Formed in Bristol, England in 1993, the elusive avant-noise project Flying Saucer Attack primarily comprised the duo of singers/guitarists David Pearce and Rachel Brook, refugees from the group Lyndas Strange Vacation who formed FSA as an outlet for their interest in home-recording experimentation. Drawing influence from Krautrock, folk, and dream pop, they bowed with the single Soaring High, followed by an eponymously-titled 1993 debut LP which buried the groups narcoleptic vocals and amorphous songs under dense, organic sheets of feedback.
 
After 1994s Distance, a collection of atmospheric singles and unreleased material, FSA emerged in 1995 with Further, a remarkably evocative work which transported the groups hypnotic guitar wash into a uniquely pastoral setting. Chorus, another singles compilation, followed later in the year, and with it came a declaration of the end of the groups initial phase, setting the stage for Flying Saucer Attacks continued evolution as one of the decades most innovative and ambitious groups. 1997s New Lands was the first fruit of this new FSA, now a Pearce solo project exploring the possibilities of sampling; Brook, meanwhile, focused on her side group Movietone, a similarly blissed-out excursion into sound. FSA followed up New Lands three years later with Mirror.