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Robert Haigh (musician)

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For the Australian field hockey player, see Robert Haigh. For the English rugby league footballer, see Bob Haigh.

Rob Haigh or Robert Haigh also known as Omni Trio, is a British electronic, ambient and experimental musician.

Early work

In the early eighties Haigh released a series of experimental ambient albums under the names Robert Haigh and Sema - the most notable being ‘Three Seasons Only’ and ‘Notes From Underground’. He also contributed to several Nurse with Wound projects and formed an industrial avant funk band called The Truth Club together with Trefor Goronwy, who would go on to join This Heat.

Omni Trio

In the nineties Haigh developed a unique style of what has become known as ‘ambient Drum and Bass’ and released six acclaimed albums under the name Omni Trio. The Omni Trio sound is notable for its intricate orchestrated production and atmospheric sound palette.[1] Omni Trio was one of the original drum and bass producers, who first released for Moving Shadow as early as 1993. He produced several anthems in the period now known as "old skool", including the piano-led "Renegade Snares", "Thru the Vibe", "Mystic Stepper" and "Living for the Future". All of these featured on his first LP, The Deepest Cut (1995), which is recognized as the first jungle album.[2]

He followed this up with Haunted Science in 1996, which included the singles "Trippin' on Broken Beats" and "Nu Birth of Cool". Mainstream trends in dancefloor-oriented drum and bass rapidly diverged from his musical style, and subsequent albums Skeleton Keys (1997), the Detroit techno-influenced Byte Size Life (1999), and Even Angels Cast Shadows (2001) produced no big club hits on the scale of his early singles, but they further cemented his reputation as one of the finest album-oriented musicians in drum and bass. Indeed, he was the first artist in the genre to produce six full-length artist albums.

Many Omni Trio tracks feature on popular video games: "Renegade Snares" appears in the game Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, "First Contact" (from Even Angels Cast Shadows) is featured in Grand Theft Auto 3 and "Secret Life" is featured in the futuristic racing video game Rollcage Stage II.

Following the release of the sixth and final Omni Trio album Rogue Satellite in 2004, Haigh decided to cease recording as Omni Trio.

Current work

Since Omni Trio, Haigh has released a series of modern classical and minimalist albums as Robert Haigh: the post Minimalist From the Air (2006) and Written on Water (2008), and the piano works: Notes and Crossings (2009), Anonymous Lights (2010), and Strange and Secret Things (2011). On his decision to cease recording as Omni Trio he has said: "After Even Angels Cast Shadows and especially the minimal structures of Rogue Satellite, I felt that perhaps my work was done in this particular area. All along the intention was to do the Omni Trio stuff alongside producing and releasing piano based material under my own name. Then the Omni thing blew up much bigger than I had anticipated. But throughout the '90s I also kept writing piano and minimal themes. By the early 2000s the time seemed right to put the emphasis on developing this material."[3]

In 2012 a box set of Haigh's 80s work as Sema was released on the German label VOD Records.

Recently Haigh has completed a project for the Primary Numbers label called Darkling Streams.[4]

Discography

(Selected; a full discography can be obtained from links below)
  • “To the Nile Sisters” (as Truth Club), United Dairies, 1980
  • “Notes from Underground” and “Theme from Hunger” (as Sema), Le Rey Records, 1982
  • “Extract from Rosa Silber” (as Sema), Le Rey Records, 1983
  • “Three Seasons Only” Le Rey Records, 1984
  • “The Sylvie and Babs H-Fi Companion” (with Nurse with Wound), United Dairies, 1985
  • “Juliet of the Spirits” LAYLAH Anti-Records, 1985
  • “Spiral Insana” (with Nurse with Wound), United Dairies, 1986
  • “Music from the Anti-Chamber” LAYLAH Anti-Records, 1986
  • “Valentine Out Of Season” and “The Best Of Robert Haigh,” United Dairies, 1987
  • “A Waltz In Plain C” Le Rey Records, 1989
  • “A Sucked Orange” (with Nurse with Wound), United Dairies, 1990
  • “Music for the Next Millennium”/"The Deepest Cut" (as Omni Trio), Sm:)e Communications, 1995
  • “Haunted Science” (as Omni Trio), Moving Shadow, 1996
  • "Byte Size Life" (as Omni Trio), Moving Shadow, 1999
  • “Even Angels Cast Shadows” (as Omni Trio), Moving Shadow, 2001
  • “From the Air” (with Silent Storm), Seal Pool, 2006
  • “Written On Water” Crouton, 2008
  • “Notes And Crossings” Siren, 2009
  • “Anonymous Lights” Siren, 2010
  • “Strange and Secret Things” Siren, 2011
  • “Cut Out Shapes (Rare And Unreleased)” Moving Shadow, 2012
  • “Time Will Say Nothing” VOD Records, 2012
  • “Darkling Streams” Primary Numbers, 2013

References

  1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/omni-trio-mn0000470193/biography
  2. ^ http://www.movingshadow.com/Web_2002/Previous/Docs/Albums/deepcut.htm
  3. ^ http://www.brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8547:robert-haigh-discipline-and-space&catid=74:interviews&Itemid=91
  4. ^ http://www.brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9751:robert-haigh-qdarkling-streamsq&catid=72:buzz-bin&Itemid=95

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