Black Box Recorder

Anyone like them? Although I'd heard a few things from them years ago, I've only really discovered them in the last month or so, and have now got all four of their records.
Sometimes described as St Etienne's evil twin, BBR are made up of Auteurs curmudgeon-in-chief Luke Haines, former Jesus and Mary Chain member John Moore, and vocalist Sarah Nixey.

BBR's songs comment on the state of English affairs, both social and personal, often using character sketches that expose the less-than-pleasant with sharp frankness and simplicity. Domesticity and childhood themes often run through their albums.

Their first single Child Psychology was banned from U.K. radio for the line "Life is unfair/Kill yourself or get over it."
This kind of sums up their themes - i.e life can be pretty rubbish, popular culture is risible at best, but pull yourself together, laugh bitterly and get on with it! Very Jarvis in attitude (In fact Jarvis remixed the relatively benign - for BBR - The Facts Of Life into something much queasier).

Their debut album, England Made Me, was released in 1998 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, with spidery guitar lines, 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.
2000's The Facts of Life was a superb follow-up, incorporating electronic elements without sounding anything like a trip-hop or dance-rock group. The Worst of Black Box Recorder, a collection of the trio's B-sides, came the following year.
In 2003 came Passionoia (terrible name, great album cover). WIthout forsaking their knack for subversion, the group returned with their most ornate batch of songs yet, several of which were as poppy as anything recorded by Saint Etienne.

I think they are great. They feel very English, they write fabulous tunes, with interesting arrangements. Their lyrics are filled with humour - admittedly often of the darkest kind - but sometimes, amidst all the scorn, icy detachment and bitter laughter, odd moments of compassion and sympathy for their protagonists reveal themselves, which saves the songs from all being just exercises in cynicism. And Sarah Nixey looks and sounds lovely.