Biography

Emerging as part of the loosely defined but still heavily intertwined post-rock scene of Bristol, England, Crescent had links to just about every other group of note in that particular array of bands. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Matt Jones played bass on a number of releases for Amp, as well as appearing in Movietone. Bassist Kate Wright also played in Movietone, handling guitars and vocals there, while Jones' guitar-playing brother Sam participated in Flying Saucer Attack at times. Besides the more drone-focused aspects or shadowy minimalism of those groups, Crescent also embraced brawling full-bodied rock tinged with murky lo-fi production for a more visceral experience. First coming to attention with their debut singles "Lost" and "Sun" on the Planet Punk label, the quartet garnered stateside notice in the mid-'90s with an expanded EP, featuring "Sun," and the full Now album on Atavistic. A follow-up album, Electronic Sound Constructions, was actually a solo effort by Matt Jones, while the band itself wasn't heard from again on disc until the Collected Songs compilation unexpectedly emerged in 1999. After making a move to Fatcat Records, the group put out By the Roads and the Fields in 2003, and then released Little Waves in July 2007. Crescent then went on an extended hiatus, during which Frànçois Marry (who had joined the group for Little Waves) concentrated on her band Frànçois and the Atlas Mountains. Crescent returned in 2017 with Resin Pockets, released by Domino sublabel Geographic. ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi