Mick Karn -

Mick Karn — aka Andonis Michaelides (July 24, 1958 — Jan. 4, 2011) — was an English-Cypriot multi-instrumentalist and composer who rose to prominence as the bassist in the New Wave/art-pop band Japan, which released five studio albums between 1978 and 1981. Just as the band announced its breakup, Karn debuted as a solo artist with the album Titles on Virgin in 1982. The following year, he collaborated with Ultravox-frontman Midge Ure on the single “After a Fashion.” In 1984, Karn teamed with ex-Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy in the art-pop duo Dalis Car, which issued The Waking Hour on Paradox.

Karn resumed his solo career with the 1986 Virgin release Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters, recorded with input from fellow Japan-alumnus Steve Jansen. The Tin Drum-era lineup of the band would ultimately regroup in 1991 for an eponymous disc as Rain Tree Crow. The ensuing 19-year period yielded two albums apiece by Karn on the labels CMP Records, Medium Productions, and his initialed MK imprint.

In 1990, Karn collaborated with guitarist David Torn in the ethno-jazz quartet Lonely Universe. The pair subsequently teamed with drummer Terry Bozzio for the 1994 CMP disc Polytown.

Karn’s basswork is also heard on albums by Gary Numan (Dance, 1981), Lustans Lakejer, Masami Tsuchiya, Bill Nelson (Chimera, 1983), Yukihiro Takahashi, Mark Isham, Akiko Yano, and Kate Bush (The Sensual World, 1989).

Background

Andonis Michaelides emigrated from Cyprus to London at age three. He took up the chromatic mouth organ at seven and the violin at eleven, each lasting about three years, before joining his school orchestra on bassoon and later playing in the London School Symphony Orchestra. He had never learned to read music, working entirely by ear, and found the experience of performing in the LSSO at its first concert—broadcast on BBC Radio 4—the first time he genuinely enjoyed playing. On the way home from that concert, the bassoon was stolen. When his school declined to replace it, Karn bought a bass guitar for £5 from a school friend and abandoned his classical studies.

By that point he had already befriended David Sylvian and Sylvian’s younger brother Steve Jansen, both then learning instruments of their own. Karn later cited two specific factors that shaped his subsequent approach: having come to bass directly from the bassoon, a low instrument that frequently carries lead melody rather than pure accompaniment, and having removed all the frets from his bass guitar in order to reproduce the slides and bent notes he had developed on violin. Japan performed for the first time on June 1, 1974, when Karn was fifteen.

Japan released five studio albums between 1978 and 1981—Adolescent Sex, Obscure Alternatives, Quiet Life, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, and Tin Drum—before announcing their dissolution. Karn’s fretless bass work during this period drew on the instrument’s capacity for sustained melodic lines and microtonal inflection, operating as a lead voice rather than a rhythmic support.

On July 7, 1982, Karn played the Prince’s Trust Gala at Wembley Stadium as part of an all-star group with Midge Ure, Genesis drummer Phil Collins, former Magazine keyboardist Dave Formula, ex-Procol Harum pianist–singer Gary Brooker, and Who architect Pete Townshend, who led the group through a thirty-minute set with cameos by Kate Bush and Robert Plant.

Titles

Mick Karn released his debut solo album, Titles, in November 1982 on Virgin.

The eight tracks establish the instrumental range Karn would carry through his subsequent solo work: fretless bass as melodic lead voice, layered with saxophones, clarinets, bassoon, flute, ocarina, recorder, keyboards, and various percussion instruments, most of them performed by Karn himself. The record’s arrangements tend toward sparse, open textures, with individual instruments entering and receding rather than building toward dense ensemble passages. Keyboard programming by Richard Barbieri provides harmonic and rhythmic scaffolding on several tracks, and Steve Jansen contributes congas and cymbal work on two. Hugh Burns plays guitar on “Saviour, Are You with Me?” and David Rhodes on “Trust Me.” Karn sings on five of the eight tracks.

“Tribal Dawn” opens the record with a percussion-forward frame built from congas and additional struck sounds before Karn’s bass and saxophone lines enter over it. “Lost Affections in a Room” centers on bassoon and clarinet in a slower, more interior setting, with keyboard programming supplying the harmonic base. “Passion in Moisture” draws African flute and drum machine into a denser rhythmic arrangement.

“Weather the Windmill” is the most keyboard-driven track on the album’s first side, its arrangement built largely from programmed parts. “Saviour, Are You with Me?” sets a traditional melody over bongos, saxophone, and guitar, with additional female vocals from Angie Usher. “Trust Me” introduces Mellotron alongside saxophone and guitar in a layered, mid-paced arrangement. “Sensitive” pairs African flute and saxophone over a drum machine pattern. “Piper Blue” closes the record with ocarina and recorder in a sparse setting built from Karn’s own overdubs.

A1. “Tribal Dawn” (4:10) – Mick Karn
A2. “Lost Affections in a Room” (4:17) – Mick Karn
A3. “Passion in Moisture” (4:12) – Mick Karn
A4. “Weather the Windmill” (3:54) – Mick Karn

B1. “Saviour, Are You with Me?” (4:05) – Traditional
B2. “Trust Me” (4:57) – Mick Karn
B3. “Sensitive” (4:35) – Mick Karn/Roberto Carlos
B4. “Piper Blue” (4:21) – Mick Karn

Karn recorded Titles during July and August 1982 in Studio 4 at A.I.R. Studios, London. Colin Fairley and Dave Woolley engineered; Fairley and Karn produced and mixed the album. “Sensitive” was produced by Rick Wilde, with Ricky Wilde contributing occasional keyboards and drum machine, and remixed by Fairley and Karn.

Virgin issued “Sensitive” as a 12” single in 1983, backed with “The Sound of Waves.” The A-side carried a remix by Fairley and Karn.

“After a Fashion”

On July 8, 1983, Mick Karn and Midge Ure released “After a Fashion,” a collaborative single backed with “Textures,” released on Musicfest Records. The project stemmed from their camaraderie at the ’82 Prince’s Trust event.

“After a Fashion” is an Eastern-tinged number with synth, programmed drums, and prominent bassoon. “Textures” has a sparser ambient character. Karn and Ure co-wrote and co-produced both sides.

A. “After a Fashion” (4:01 | 5:43)
B. “Textures” (3:25)

The pair filmed a high-budget video for “After a Fashion” in Egypt at the Pyramids of Giza. Peter Saville Associates designed the sleeve with photography by Linda McCartney.

They intended to follow the single with a full collaborative album, but Ure’s Ultravox commitments and time-constraints precluded their plans. Karn instead formed Dalis Car with singer Peter Murphy, newly free from Bauhaus. Their album, The Waking Hour, appeared in 1984 on Paradox.

Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters

Mick Karn released his second solo album, Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters, in February 1987 on Virgin.

The eight tracks deepen the instrumental layering of the debut, with Karn performing bass, keyboards, soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet, accordion, drums, percussion, flute, and suona across the record, as well as contributing backing vocals and the album’s inner sleeve artwork. Steve Jansen plays keyboards, drums, and percussion throughout, giving the album a more unified rhythmic character than Titles. David Sylvian sings lead on two tracks and contributes additional keyboards to a third. Eric Willan plays E-flat trumpet on the opening track and French horn on “The Three Fates.” Paul Jones plays harmonica on the same track. “Answer” closes the album with contributions from the Bury Church School Choir and the Keith Williams Music Ensemble.

“First Impression” opens the record at the album’s longest side-one length, establishing a wide arrangement with Willan’s trumpet as a distinct melodic voice against Karn’s bass and saxophone layers. “Language of Ritual” runs the second longest track of the first side and sustains a slower, more static harmonic movement. “Buoy,” co-written by Karn and Sylvian, carries Sylvian’s vocal over a mid-paced arrangement. “Land,” written by Jansen, brings Sylvian back on additional keyboards in an instrumental setting.

“The Three Fates” opens the second side with French horn and harmonica adding lower-register color to the ensemble frame. “When Love Walks In” is the album’s longest track overall, again featuring Sylvian’s lead vocal in a co-written piece. “Dreams of Reason” is a shorter, more compressed instrumental. “Answer” closes with choir and ensemble in the album’s most orchestrally dense passage.

A1. “First Impression” (5:06) – Mick Karn
A2. “Language of Ritual” (5:42) – Mick Karn
A3. “Buoy” (4:52) – Sylvian/Karn
A4. “Land” (4:20) – Steve Jansen

B1. “The Three Fates” (4:13) – Mick Karn
B2. “When Love Walks In” (6:13) – Sylvian/Karn
B3. “Dreams of Reason” (3:42) – Mick Karn
B4. “Answer” (5:27) – Mick Karn

Femi Jiya engineered and co-mixed the album alongside Karn and Jansen, with Andi Mason assisting on mixing. Karn and Jansen produced and arranged the record.

Discography: