Tim Bowness

Tim Bowness (born 29 November 1963, Stockton Heath, Cheshire, England) is a singer/songwriter primarily known for his work as part of the band No-Man, a long-term project with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.

Career

Beginning his musical career with several years in unsigned Manchester and Warrington based experimental indie bands such as Plenty, After The Stranger and Still, Bowness moved to London in 1988 to join Steven Wilson in No-Man, a collaboration which continues to this day.

In addition to recording albums with No-Man (for record labels such as One Little Indian, Sony/Epic and Snapper Music), Bowness has appeared on recordings by major Italian artist Alice and respected experimental guitarist David Torn. In 1994, he recorded a collaboration album of 'ambient torch songs' with Porcupine Tree/Japan/Rain Tree Crow keyboard player Richard Barbieri, called Flame.

Bowness has been a core or floating member of several other bands. He has been the singer of choice for German electronic band Centrozoon and British ambient electro-improvisers Darkroom on the more vocal-orientated projects performed and released by each group. He is the lead singer and guitarist for the Anglo-Swedish band Henry Fool, who fuse aspects of 1970s progressive rock with contemporary post-rock and abstract balladry. As singer (and occasional second guitarist) for Samuel Smiles between 1992 and 2000, he explored a blend of acoustic folk music and electro-ambient art-rock shadings.

Bowness also has a longstanding duo collaboration with Ely-based multi-instrumentalist Peter Chilvers (with whom he has worked in Samuel Smiles and Henry Fool). Mostly based around voice and keyboards (predominantly piano), this project specialises in dark, reflective and intimate ballads and has produced one album, 2002's California, Norfolk.

Following years of collaborations with others, Bowness' debut solo album, My Hotel Year was released on the One Little Indian label in 2004. The album continued to make use of Bowness collaborators both old and new (featuring Roger Eno and Hugh Hopper amongst others). A single from the album - "Sleepwalker" - was also released.

Recent activity has included work on the No-Man album Schoolyard Ghosts, and guest appearances with Italian band Nosound and Norwegian studio project The Opium Cartel. Bowness is also scheduled to appear on and co-produce the forthcoming album by former Fairport Convention singer, Judy Dyble.

In 2001, he established the online record label Burning Shed with Peter Chilvers and Pete Morgan.

Musical style

Bowness is primarily a singer, songwriter and lyricist, although he does play keyboards and program on occasion. He also plays acoustic and electric guitar (predominantly simple parts to support the voice, although while working with Henry Fool he frequently plays unorthodox, complex and aggressive electric guitar lines).

Bowness is predominantly a ballad singer, with a mellifluous high-tenor voice. He specialises in a breathy, romantic style of singing, but occasionally ornaments his vocal lines with murmurs, falsettos and baritone bellows. He has experimented with loop technology, using the resulting 'voiceloops' to create both entirely abstract music and to enhance his more mainstream songwriting.

Most of the music with which Bowness is associated is melodic, melancholy and reflective, although spread across multiple genres (including art-pop, acoustic songwriting, ambient music, dance-pop, electronica and progressive rock).

Bowness' lyrics, though literate, tend to use simple and subtle phrases. The subject matter tends to focus on lives of unspoken desperation, and in the tension between people's aspirations and the conditions of living for which they have to settle. Early No-Man work explored this in more abstract terms and romantic/religious imagery, but most latter-day Bowness work has jettisoned this in favour of the small, telling phrase. He does, however, create more abstract and surreal lyrics when appropriate (most notably with Centrozoon and Darkroom).

Select discography

• Never Trust The Way You Are (Resonancer, 2004) - with Centrozoon
• My Hotel Year (One Little Indian, 2004)
• California, Norfolk (Burning Shed, 2002) - with Peter Chilvers
• Flame (One Little Indian, 1994) - with Richard Barbieri

External links

• Tim Bowness Official Website
• Tim Bowness Official Blog
• No-Man Official Website
• No-Man "A Confession"
• No-Man at My Space
• Tim Bowness at My Space
• Burning Shed
• The Tim Bowness Artist Page at One Little Indian