Creep Show

Creep Show formed through the alliance of sardonic tunesmith John Grant and electro outfit Wrangler, their clever and impish tracks twisting funk, techno, and pop conventions into unexpected shapes. The outfit's first outing, 2018's Mr. Dynamite, delivered dryly understated electronic explorations alive with inventive rapport, whereas 2023's Yawning Abyss tightened their compositional focus to launch incisive satirical barbs at widespread corruption and apathy. Grant first encountered Wrangler's lineup—former Cabaret Voltaire frontman Stephen Mallinder, Tuung's Phillip Winter, and Ben "Benge" Edwards—at the 2014 Sensoria Festival in Sheffield, England, during the group's performance alongside Carter Tutti. An immediate rapport led to ongoing contact, beginning with their 2016 remix of "Voodoo Doll," the single drawn from Grant's 2015 album Grey Tickles, Black Pressure. That October they supplied fresh material for a concert at London's Barbican Theatre marking the indie record store chain Rough Trade's 40th anniversary. Taking its name from an art exhibit Edwards encountered in a dream, the collective tracked its debut at Edwards' home studio in Cornwall, making full use of his extensive collection of analog synths together with the shared enthusiasm for film soundtracks and post-punk. Bella Union issued the resulting Mr. Dynamite in March 2018. The next year Creep Show released the single "Uneffable" ahead of a U.K. tour. For the subsequent album the project adopted a more straightforward method, removing layers of effects from the vocals of Grant and Mallinder while sharpening the songcraft. Recorded at Edwards' studio and in Iceland, June 2023's Yawning Abyss examined moral bankruptcy and indifference across a span of brooding ballads and industrial funk workouts.