White Noise | |
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| Origin | Billingham, England |
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| Years active | 1968–present |
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White Noise are an Englishexperimentalelectronic music band formed inLondon in 1968, after American-born David Vorhaus, a classical bass player with a background in physics and electronic engineering, attended a lecture byDelia Derbyshire, a sound scientist at theBBC Radiophonic Workshop.[2] Derbyshire andBrian Hodgson, then both former members of electronic music projectUnit Delta Plus, joined Vorhaus to form the band.[3]
In June 1969, White Noise released the groundbreaking albumAn Electric Storm onIsland Records. The album was created using a variety of tape manipulation techniques, and used the first British synthesizer, theEMS Synthi VCS3. Amongst many oddities, the first track on the album, "Love Without Sound", employed sped-up tape edits of Vorhaus playing thedouble bass to createviolin andcello sounds. Although not initially commercially successful for Island, the album is now considered an important and influential album in the development of electronic music,[4] namechecked by contemporary artists likeThe Orb andJulian Cope, influencing contemporary acts such asBroadcast,Add N to (X), andSecret Chiefs 3.[2]Peter Kember ofSpacemen 3 included "Firebird" on his 2004 curated compilationSpacelines.
Following the departure of Derbyshire and Hodgson to pursue other projects, Vorhaus released a second album, the largely instrumentalWhite Noise 2 - Concerto for Synthesizer onVirgin Records in 1974. It was recorded in his own studio inCamden, North London. The album further utilized theEMS VCS 3, as well as prototypesequencers. A third album, the single track 'space fantasy'White Noise III - Re-Entry was released by Pulse Records in 1980. A further two albums were released, the atmosphericWhite Noise IV - Inferno (AMP Music) (1990) incorporated the use of samples, andWhite Noise V - Sound Mind (AMP Music; 2000), an experiment in what Vorhaus called "dark ambient".
It means I won't be getting onTop of the Pops, but I felt the category was broad enough that I could redefine it in ways that I couldn't redefine other genres, such as country and western - much as I'd like to! There's a lot of scope for experimentation and on one track, "Dark Matter", anything that is recognisable is out - no harmony, no pitch, no rhythm. It's so dark, you can't even see the stars.[5]
In 2011, Vorhaus enlisted Mike Painter and toured as White Noise. In a 2015 interview withThe Quietus, Vorhaus stated his continued interest in experimentation with modern technology, saying there are less limits than there used to be.[6]
To mark the fiftieth anniversary ofAn Electric Storm, a new albumLighting Strikes Twice was released in 2021. The album featured Vorhaus and Painter, both using MANIAC (Multiphasic ANalog Inter‑Active Cromataphonic, or software simulation of it), Vorhaus on the Kaleidophon (his string instrument invention using ribbon controllers)[7] and Painter using avirtual reality glove.[8]
From the 1980s, Vorhaus has made electroniclibrary music recordings forKPM Music andDe Wolfe Music usingFairlight CMI.[9] Vorhaus has written music for TV and film and his music features on TV commercials and TV themes.[7] His recordings include:
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