Nick Talbot aka Gravenhurst dies aged 37

Nick Talbot, who has passed away at the shockingly young age of 37, was one of the finest British songwriters of his generation. Wreathing folk mystery in studio magic, his self-produced work as Gravenhurst confronted human nature’s dark side and found beauty in the unlikeliest of places.

While mainstream recognition eluded Nick in his lifetime, he had a passionate following throughout Europe and beyond. The Guardian described him as “surely among music’s best-kept secrets”, while The Quietus has described him as having “quietly crafted some of the best records of the last decade”. 

Born into what he once described as “the only Labour-voting family in the whole of Surrey”, Nick came to Bristol as a student after falling under the spell of feedback-strewn pastoralists Flying Saucer Attack.

He formed Assembly Communications, a post-rock / shoegaze quartet whose short career ended in 1999 with the death of bass guitarist Luke Gale. This tragedy led the band’s main songwriter to go it alone, and by 2001 Nick was performing low-key solo shows that highlighted his gifts for melody, imagery and fingerstyle guitar.

If Gravenhurst’s debut LP Internal Travels presented Nick as an acoustic troubadour it only told half the story. Nick’s other influences – indie-pop, post-rock, analogue synth music – gradually came into focus through Flashlight Seasons, Black Holes In The Sand, Fires In Distant Buildings and The Western Lands, a flurry of ambitious releases that arrived either side of his 2004 signing to Warp Records.

Gravenhurst’s self-described “sonic folk” became a full-blown English psychedelia, while his softly sung refractions of landscape, myth and violence drew on Blake, Burroughs and the ghost stories of MR James. Folklore (Bluebeard, Herne the Hunter) and history (Fitzrovia, The Foundry) also weighed heavy on Gravenhurst’s world.  

Before we get carried away with all this serious artist stuff, it’s important to remember that Gravenhurst was only an aspect of Nick Talbot, even if it was a compelling one.

Far from being a stereotypical gloom merchant, Nick was a funny, warm and sociable person with a talent for satire. His self-published Ultraskull comics were hilarious and filthy (he was a huge fan of Viz), and his blog The Police Diver’s Notebook veered wildly from polemic to surrealism, tackling everything from academic ephemera to the rise of UKIP.

Nick was also a great collaborator. A one-time member of Bronnt Industries Kapital, he also contributed his guitar parts to War Against Sleep and his angelic vocals to Mike Paradinas and Lara Rix’s electronic pop project Heterotic. A community-minded person despite his singular talent, Nick was a valued member of music collective Choke and ran a great little label called Silent Age that supported the work of other Bristol artists.

It’s for Gravenhurst he’ll be remembered by most people though, and Nick’s passing seems to have come at a time when his profile was rising.

2012’s The Ghost in Daylight, his first album for five years, led to the formation of a wonderful live trio who were scheduled to tour the UK, France and Germany in the coming weeks.

Just days before Nick died his label had released vinyl reissues of two of his early albums along with a compilation of unreleased songs and a short documentary film.

Nick will be remembered as a profound songwriter, a wonderful guitarist and – for those of us lucky to have known him – a beautiful and humane man with a carefully considered opinion on just about everything. He was much loved and admired in Bristol, and his adopted hometown will be a colder place without him.