Richard Youngs

Born in Cambridge in 1966 and based in Glasgow since the early 1990s, Richard Youngs has for decades forged a singular path in British experimental music. His work moves between spare folk, free improvisation, progressive rock, vocal pieces and minimalist electronic forms, with a compositional approach that frequently shifts context while retaining a constant attention to timbre, repetition and melody. Youngs's solo discography officially begins with Advent in 1990 and has since been released across numerous independent labels, including No Fans (which he founded), Jagjaguwar and VHF. Among his most cited landmarks are Sapphie (1998), Making Paper (2001), Airs of the Ear (2003), River Through Howling Sky (2004) and Amplifying Host (2011). He has also pursued an extensive collaborative practice, notably with Simon Wickham-Smith, Andrew Paine within Ilk and Urban Parable, Alex Neilson, Matthew Bower, Neil Campbell and Jandek, with whom he participated in several live recordings issued from 2005. Long a rarity on stage, Youngs began performing more frequently from the 2010s within the UK's experimental networks and beyond.