Robin Guthrie

Robin Guthrie
Robin Guthrie
	Guthrie performing in 2008
Background information
Birth name	Robin Andrew Guthrie
Born	4 January 1962 (age 62); Grangemouth, Scotland
Genres	Dream pop; ambient; drone; alternative rock;
Occupations	Musician; songwriter; composer; record producer; audio engineer;
Instruments	Guitar; bass; keyboards; drums;
Years active	1979–present
Labels	4AD; Fontana; Bella Union; Darla; Rocket Girl;
Website	robinguthrie.com

Robin Andrew Guthrie (born 4 January 1962) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, composer, record producer and audio engineer, best known as the co-founder of the alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has performed guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and other musical instruments, in addition to programming, sampling and sound processing.

Early life

Guthrie grew up in Grangemouth, Scotland. There were musical instruments in his family's home, but he never had any proper musical training. With an interest in electronics and trained as an electrician, Guthrie started to experiment with fuzz boxes and guitar pedals to find an alternative sound for his guitar. Guthrie and his friend Will Heggie were members of a four-piece band called The Heat, who later released a single under the name The Liberators in 1980. The same year, Guthrie co-founded Cocteau Twins with Heggie and vocalist Elizabeth Fraser.^[3]

Career

Following the break-up of Cocteau Twins in 1998, Guthrie released his first solo record, Imperial, in 2003 on Bella Union Records. Guthrie's next release, which was co-written with Harold Budd, was the film score for Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin.^[1] The soundtrack was released in May 2005 by Commotion and consists of 15 complete songs based on the short pieces used in the film.

In 2006, Guthrie signed a four-album solo deal with Darla Records, the first product of which was the album Continental. In February 2007, American webzine Somewhere Cold voted Continental best album of 2006, on their 2006 Somewhere Cold Awards Hall of Fame, and ranked Guthrie Artist of the Year.^[4] He subsequently released two four-track EPs, Everlasting and Waiting for Dawn.

Two more collaborations with Harold Budd (who had previously announced his musical retirement) were released simultaneously in 2007. After the Night Falls and Before the Day Breaks were both co-composed, co-produced and played with Budd. Like the soundtrack to Mysterious Skin, both albums are slow, drifting pieces primarily utilising treated guitar and piano.

Guthrie has also collaborated with singer Siobhan de Maré (formerly of Mono) as the band Violet Indiana. Their first full-length album, Roulette, was released in 2001. A second album, Russian Doll, followed in 2004. In March 2006 Guthrie reported on his weblog that the group had started work again on new material.

In May 2009, Mirrorball, an album-length collaboration between Guthrie and John Foxx was released on Metamatic Records.^[5]

A new solo album, Carousel, was released via Rocket Girl in Europe on 1 September 2009 and Darla Records on 15 September 2009. Additionally, Guthrie issued the Angel Falls EP in early 2009, and the Songs to Help My Children Sleep EP in October 2009. A further EP Sunflower Stories was released in March 2010

Guthrie's most recent releases are Emeralds (2011) and two collaboration albums with Harold Budd, Bordeaux and Winter Garden (with Eraldo Bernocchi) (both 2011).

He played guitar on the Telefon Tel Aviv track "The Sky Is Black", from The Birds EP (2012). Guthrie released Fortune, his newest full-length album on 26 November 2012.

In 2015, Guthrie and friend Mark Gardener of Ride wrote, performed and recorded an album Universal Road together.

Guthrie currently tours live under the name "The Robin Guthrie Trio" consisting of himself, Steve Wheeler (on bass) & Antti Mäkinen (on drums). He works and lives in France with his wife Florence.

Recording and production work

In 1985, Robin Guthrie produced Felt's fourth studio album, Ignite the Seven Cannons, and in 1987, he produced The Gun Club's fourth studio album, Mother Juno in Berlin. In 1990 he produced Lush's second EP Mad Love and a few other songs scattered on various compilation albums. He went on to produce their 1992 debut album Spooky and Black Spring EP (1991).

In 2005 Guthrie mixed Amber Smith's third studio album entitled RePRINT which brought the band an international breakthrough.