The moody, retro-futuristic project of Martin Jenkins, Pye Corner Audio evokes the mystery of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and John Carpenter as well as the electro of Drexciya and classic Detroit techno. Early on, the suspenseful sounds of his self-released Black Mill Tapes Vol.1: Avant Shards in 2010 captured the attention of fans of Demdike Stare, Ekoplekz, and the Ghost Box roster. By the time of his debut for that label, 2012’s Sleep Games, beats and melodies were as prominent in his music as his flair for unearthly atmospheres, a trend that continued on his trilogy of sci-fi inspired albums, 2016’s Stasis, 2019’s Hollow Earth, and 2021’s Entangled Routes. Jenkins kept his gifts for mood-making and sound-shaping front and center whether he opted for a dramatic change of pace with the sunny, wide-open psychedelia of 2022’s Let’s Emerge! or returned to dystopian visions on 2024’s The Endless Echo.
Emerging from the mid-2000s underground electronic music scene coined “British Cosmic Music” by noted author Warren Ellis, Jenkins (also known as the Head Technician, the House in the Woods, and the Howling Moss) began self-releasing music as Pye Corner Audio in 2010. That year, the single The Head Technician’s Generosity and Black Mill Tapes Vol.1: Avant Shards both arrived, with Black Mill Tapes Vol.2: Do You Synthesize? appearing the following year. The respected electronic label Type reissued both volumes of Black Mill Tapes in 2012, the same year that Black Mill Tapes Vol.3: All Pathways Open appeared. Also in 2012, Pye Corner Audio made its debut on Jim Jupp’s Ghost Box label with Sleep Games. Adding more warped beats and decayed melodies to Jenkins’ approach, the album earned widespread critical acclaim.
Pye Corner Audio issued a flurry of singles in 2013, including “Conical Space/Dusk Veiled” on Dekorder and a 7″ Ghost Box Study Series collaboration with the Listening Center. That year, Jenkins started the House in the Woods project with a self-titled EP on Exotic Pylon that boasted a more ambient and experimental sound compared to his other work. In 2014, Type issued the third and fourth volumes of Black Mill Tapes, which nodded to house, disco, and darkwave as well as the dusty atmospheres of the previous installments (Type also released a triple-CD compiling all four volumes). A split LP between PCA and Not Waving also appeared on the Ecstatic label. The disco influence continued on Prowler, which was released by More Than Human in November 2015. Jenkins returned to Ghost Box for 2016’s like-minded Stasis, which kicked off a trilogy of sci-fi themed albums, and teamed up with Dalhous on the Run for the Shadows EP. The following year saw the release of the Spiral EP on Death Waltz Originals, the Where Things Are Hollow EP for Lapsus Records, and a collaborative EP with Silent Servant and Not Waving. Pye Corner Audio’s 2018 was just as busy, with output including the digital single Satan’s Little Helper; Five Years in the Dark for TDO Cassettes; and Issue No. 22, another collaboration with Silent Servant and Marcel Dettmann.
Jenkins kicked off 2019 with his third Pye Corner Audio album for Ghost Box, that March’s Hollow Earth. One of his most accessible releases, it reached number nine on the U.K. Independent Albums Chart. That October, Pye Corner Audio performed at the 15th birthday party for the label Sonic Cathedral at the London club the Social. The set, which featured guitarist Andy Bell, became the live album Social Dissonance, which Sonic Cathedral issued in 2020. Jenkins completed his sci-fi trilogy for Ghost Box with 2021’s Entangled Routes, an album whose mood pieces and danceable moments were inspired by the subterranean communication networks of plants. For Pye Corner Audio’s first studio album for Sonic Cathedral, Jenkins took a notably different tack. Reuniting with Bell, he drew from sunny psychedelia and shoegaze on July 2022’s optimistic Let’s Emerge!, which peaked at number ten on the U.K. Independent Albums Chart. A year later, Let’s Remerge: Sonic Boom Remixes found Pete Kember reworking the album’s tracks with a heavy emphasis on their psychedelic and ambient leanings. Pye Corner Audio returned to Ghost Box for April 2024’s The Endless Echo, a set of shadowy meditations on the nature of time and its illusions. ~ Heather Phares & Aneet Nijjar, Rovi
