The Durutti Column

Born in Manchester in 1978 in the immediate orbit of Factory Records, The Durutti Column quickly refocused around guitarist Vini Reilly, a central figure in a project that remained fluid in its form but highly identifiable by its writing. Initially linked to post-punk by its emergence, The Durutti Column diverged from it with a clear, airy, and unpretentious sound, where Reilly's guitar crosses elements of dream pop, art rock, jazz, classical music and, depending on the period, ambient and more electronic rhythms. Bruce Mitchell became his main partner from the early 1980s, then Keir Stewart joined the ensemble permanently on stage and in the studio. The early albums, The Return of the Durutti Column (1980), LC (1981), Another Setting (1983) and Without Mercy (1984), established an instrumental aesthetic made of fragmented melodies, silences and chamber arrangements. Subsequently, The Durutti Column developed this base toward more synth-based or more pop formats on The Guitar and Other Machines (1987), Vini Reilly (1989) and Obey the Time (1990). After Factory's demise, the project continued with Sex and Death (1994), Time Was Gigantic... When We Were Kids (1998), and then several records released in the 2000s, while maintaining a foothold on British and European stages. Vini Reilly also collaborated with Morrissey in the late 1980s, a landmark often cited to situate his guitar playing outside the strict framework of The Durutti Column.