Cranes

Cranes are a British music group. Their music has frequently been described as incorporating elements of gothic rock, dream pop, and shoegazing.

Formed in the mid 1980s in Portsmouth, England by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw, and named after the innumerable mechanical cranes around the city's docks, Cranes are best known for the childlike, high-pitched vocals of lead singer Alison, memorably likened by the NME to "a beautiful siren being slowly strangled on a spiral staircase of hammer-horror guitars".

Early on in their recording and performing career, the music of Cranes borrowed from both the industrial/avant-garde, deconstructive style of bands such as Einst?rzende Neubauten, and the ethereal labyrinths of acts like Cocteau Twins. Following a general softening of their sound, the introduction of pop elements to their music, and a world tour with The Cure in 1992, the band's popularity increased, and peaked with the release of the albums Forever and Loved.

The band fell silent for a period of approximately four years after the release of Population 4 in 1997, but did not actually break up. In the early 2000s, they began writing music again, and released Future Songs and Particles and Waves on their own label, Dadaphonic. These albums signified a change in the overall style of their music, emphasising its ambient, ethereal qualities. Despite heading in a more electronic direction, however, the band's music continued to revolve around Alison Shaw's distinctive singing.

Discography

Albums
Fuse (MC, 1986)
Self-Non-Self (1989)
Wings of Joy (1991)
Forever (1993)
Forever Remixes (1993)
Loved (1994)
La trag?die d'Oreste et ?lectre (1996)
Population 4 (1997)
EP Collection, Vol. 1 & 2 (1997)
Future Songs (2001)
Live in Italy (2003)
Particles and Waves (2004)
Live at Paradiso 1991 (2007) (for download only)
Cranes (2008)

Singles & EPs
Inescapable (1990) - 4 non-album tracks
Espero (1990) - 3 non-album tracks
Adoration (1991) - 2 tracks including a non-album B-side
Tomorrow's Tears (1991) - 4 tracks including 2 non-album tracks
Adrift (1991) - 3 tracks including 1 non-album track
Jewel (1993) - 3 different releases with remixes. One of them includes a non-album track
Forever Remixes (1993) - 6 remixes of a few tracks from the Forever album
Shining Road (1994) - 2 different releases each of them with 4 tracks including 2 (different) non-album tracks
Can't Get Free (1997) - 5 tracks including 4 non-album tracks
Submarine (2002) - 8 remixes of a few tracks from the Future Songs album
The Moon City/It's a Beautiful World (7", 2002) - 2 non-album tracks

Notes

The track Astronauts from the 2004 album Particles and Waves has been used as music for the American Express commercial with actress Kate Winslet.

Alison Shaw recorded a new song "Endormie" with the group Twine on their last album, Violets.