Sudeten Creche

Sudeten Crèche began in 1980 as a sonic-art project conceived by Yvette Döll, who handled the artistic direction and lyrics. Rather than starting out as a conventional band, the project grew from experimental sounds, tape loops, voices, short-wave radio interference and synthesizers, with Döll drawing on the atmosphere of experimental and electronic music from the 1960s and ’70s. The project took a more concrete musical form around 1980–81, when Döll worked with Paul Carlin, her brother, who contributed lyrics and vocals. Much of this earliest material remained unreleased, although some of the recordings were later used as source material. 

The first public appearance came with the compilation EP 'Europe in the Year Zero', issued in 1982 as a benefit for the anti-nuclear cause. Sudeten Crèche contributed “Are Kisses Out Of Fashion?” and “Dance”, two early minimal electronic pieces that established the sound associated with the project. The compilation also featured Yazoo with “Goodbye ’70s” and Colour Me Pop, and had been conceived with Sudeten Crèche’s involvement. According to Paul Carlin, the project came together through connections involving Döll, Illuminated Records and people around the emerging electronic scene. The record reportedly sold more than 10,000 copies and reached No. 46 in the UK singles chart and No. 7 on the independent chart before selling out within a few weeks. 

Mark Warner was also involved with Sudeten Crèche around this period, although his role has been omitted from some later accounts of the band's early history. Warner recalled that he played the keyboard parts on 'Europe in the Year Zero' using Carlin's Casio, while Carlin played the guitar on “Dance” using Warner's Fender Telecaster. Warner and Carlin subsequently became the two musicians most closely associated with the group's early-’80s incarnation.

 
In 1983 the lineup expanded with guitarist Baz Voce and bassist Tim Wharton. The four-piece recorded the 'Kindergarten' EP for Illuminated Records, including “Kindergarten”, “Dance” in instrumental and extended forms, and “Asylums in Beirut”. The record placed Sudeten Crèche alongside a number of other adventurous artists associated with the label, while the group's music was increasingly identified with the stripped-down electronic sound that would later be described as minimal synth or minimal wave. 

That same year brought one of the band's most notable live episodes. Sudeten Crèche supported Nico during the UK leg of her 1983 European tour, including a performance at Queen Mary College, University of London. Carlin later recalled meeting Nico backstage and receiving a signed copy of her 'Procession' EP with the words “A kiss for the Creche”. The encounter subsequently provided the inspiration for the title 'A Kiss From The Creche', used for a later Sudeten Crèche CD-EP. 

After the early-’80s activity, Sudeten Crèche never completely disappeared, although work became intermittent as the members pursued other projects. Carlin and Warner continued working on material at various points through the 1980s and into the early ’90s. Warner was involved with several other groups and projects, while Carlin worked in music production and other areas of the record business. The original Sudeten Crèche material therefore remained scattered across unreleased tapes, recordings and occasional reworkings rather than forming a conventional catalogue. 

Carlin and Warner revived Sudeten Crèche around 2005–06 after both had spent a considerable period away from the UK. This reunion produced new recordings, including the 2008 'Wounds' single on Annalogue Records, and helped bring renewed attention to the band's early material. Minimal Wave subsequently reissued the classic recordings, including the 'Are Kisses Out Of Fashion?' 12-inch in 2009. That release drew on the original tape reels and combined “Are Kisses Out Of Fashion?”, “Dance”, an unreleased version of “Kindergarten” and “Asylums”; the vinyl edition was limited to 500 hand-numbered copies. 

Sudeten Crèche also returned to the stage after more than twenty-five years away, with performances in several European cities around 2011. At that point Carlin and Warner were the active members, with the earlier involvement of Voce and Wharton forming part of the group's history. Their music was increasingly being placed within the minimal synth and minimal wave revival, although Carlin and Warner themselves noted that those genre labels did not exist when they were making the original recordings in the early ’80s. 

Warner left the group after the later reunion period, with the split becoming apparent around 2012–13. Carlin and Döll then returned to the project's original experimental basis. From 2014 onward they began assembling and reconstructing material dating from roughly 1980 to 1985, combining old recordings with new work. In 2015, Döll and Carlin began recording new Sudeten Crèche material together again.

 
This work eventually led to 'Nothing Is True', released in 2019. The project brought together newly recorded material and reconstructed elements from the group's earliest period, including a vinyl-only appearance of the original 1982 recording of “Are Kisses Out Of Fashion?”. The release also contained four new and previously unreleased tracks, continuing the connection between the experimental tapes of the early Sudeten Crèche and the later minimal-wave incarnation.