Humanist

Humanist is the dynamic U.K.-based collaborative brainchild of ex-Lyca Sleep and Exit Calm guitarist Rob Marshall, who builds upon a radio-friendly, industrial rock template and adds touches of post-punk, synth pop, and folk. Teesside-born Marshall found himself without a band in 2016 while living in Hastings, East Sussex on England's south coast. Jaded by the traditional process of writing, rehearsing, recording, touring, and promoting an album, he tentatively began a solo project that would ultimately become Humanist. He gave a wish list of potential vocal collaborators to his manager, along with a handful of demos, and received many positive responses. First up was Mark Lanegan, and the laundry list of eager parties eventually expanded to include Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, Mark Gardener of Ride, Ron Sexsmith, and Jim Jones, among others. By February 2020, the project came to fruition with the release of a self-titled debut album that benefitted from the dynamism that comes from working with a plethora of creative, like-minded people. Growing up, Marshall spent hours playing guitar along with albums by Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys. In 2000, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, he formed his first band, Lyca Sleep, who released a couple of shoegaze-inspired singles and toured with Engineers and the Warlocks. When Lyca Sleep folded, Marshall and two of his bandmates -- Simon Lindley and Scott Pemberton -- were briefly known as Blind Shore before the trio met Nicky Smith to form Exit Calm. The Verve-influenced quartet enjoyed moderate success from 2006 onward, releasing two albums, performing at Glastonbury, and opening in large venues for Echo & the Bunnymen and Doves. Exit Calm's split in 2015 left Marshall disillusioned with the music industry, but the initial responses from his favorite vocalists gave him much-needed encouragement. Even before digging deeply into Humanist, Marshall assisted Lanegan by writing songs for what would become the Seattle artist's acclaimed 2017 album, Gargoyle. This exposure provided impetus for his own work and he subsequently self-recorded and produced many complete instrumental pieces with titles and implied themes. He sent these to prospective Humanist vocalists, giving them freedom to create their own lyrics and melody lines. In June 2019, the brooding "Ring of Truth" -- featuring the literary polymath Carl Hancock Rux -- became the first Humanist material to be released. This single was followed in August by "English Ghosts," a Krautrock-influenced piece co-written with the Membranes' John Robb. January 2020's "Shock Collar," featuring Gahan, inventively combined darkness and euphoria and was released just prior to the album. In preparation for a March U.K. tour, Marshall recruited Pemberton on drums, Tatia Starkey of Bela Kiss on bass, and the near-falsetto of James Mudriczki of Puressence on vocals. Given that the album mostly included baritone vocalists, this latter selection was a clear example of Marshall's willingness to freshen up established patterns.
© James Wilkinson /TiVo