Biography
Boymerang serves as the drum'n'bass vehicle for London producer Graham Sutton, already recognized as half of the early-'90s industrial pop outfit Bark Psychosis. That group, whose sound overlapped with the dark ambient and electronic dance territory explored by Coil and Front 242, issued just a single album plus two singles on Virgin before disbanding amid severe internal tensions in 1994. Performing under the Bark Psychosis banner, Sutton appeared at Russia’s electronic Music Festival with Seefeel, Autechre, Ultramarine, and Aphex Twin; the bill mirrored his growing focus on experimental dance music. He and Daniel Gish later delivered an electronic set still credited to Bark Psychosis at the UK’s Phoenix Festival.
Sutton then steeped himself in drum’n’bass, absorbing techniques from Ed Rush, Trace, Fabio, Luke Vibert, Goldie, and Doc Scott, before issuing a self-titled EP on Tony Morley’s experimental Leaf imprint, the label founded by the former 4AD staffer. Two of its three tracks, “The Don” and “Rules,” were co-written with Gish, while the remaining cut, “(Theme From) Boymerang,” marked Sutton’s first solo outing under the new alias. The 12-inch blended taut jungle rhythms with restless, headphone-friendly abstraction, considerably elevating both Sutton’s profile and Leaf’s standing. After another Leaf EP and a remix of 2Player’s “Extreme Possibilities” for Ninja Tune (paired with Vibert’s Wagon Christ version), Sutton placed tracks on two Jon Tye Lo Recordings compilations and signed a non-exclusive deal with EMI.
Further remixes for Collapsed Lung and Sufi ensued, alongside an EP on Grooverider’s Prototype label and a contribution to the Volume anthology Breakbeat Science. His first album, Balance of the Force, surfaced on Regal/EMI in May 1997.
Sutton then steeped himself in drum’n’bass, absorbing techniques from Ed Rush, Trace, Fabio, Luke Vibert, Goldie, and Doc Scott, before issuing a self-titled EP on Tony Morley’s experimental Leaf imprint, the label founded by the former 4AD staffer. Two of its three tracks, “The Don” and “Rules,” were co-written with Gish, while the remaining cut, “(Theme From) Boymerang,” marked Sutton’s first solo outing under the new alias. The 12-inch blended taut jungle rhythms with restless, headphone-friendly abstraction, considerably elevating both Sutton’s profile and Leaf’s standing. After another Leaf EP and a remix of 2Player’s “Extreme Possibilities” for Ninja Tune (paired with Vibert’s Wagon Christ version), Sutton placed tracks on two Jon Tye Lo Recordings compilations and signed a non-exclusive deal with EMI.
Further remixes for Collapsed Lung and Sufi ensued, alongside an EP on Grooverider’s Prototype label and a contribution to the Volume anthology Breakbeat Science. His first album, Balance of the Force, surfaced on Regal/EMI in May 1997.