David Coulter

Thanks to his father’s early guidance, David Coulter embarked on his journey toward multi-instrumental mastery well before taking his initial steps. Harmonica and jew’s-harp came first in his instrumental education. By age eight he had added harmonium and violin to his skill set. Three years after that, his aunt returned from Pacific travels bearing a pair of distinctive instruments that expanded his palette: a yidaki, or didgeridoo, and a Polynesian bamboo bell tree known as an anklung. Over the following years he gained proficiency on still more instruments, among them accordion, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, bass, theremin, and musical saw. Six years of his professional life were spent with the British punk-inspired band the Pogues, and he also performed for a time with the industrial rock outfit Test Department. Session credits link him to recordings by Peter Hammill, Pete Townshend, Roger Eno, Talvin Singh, the Kronos Quartet, Joe Strummer, Marc Ribot, Nitin Sawney, Band of Holy Joy, Boy George, Steve Nieve, Arthur H., and the Communards. From the late ’80s onward he partnered with French vocalist Eve Couturier on projects issued by Song Active Production, one of which was the album Un Bruit Qui Court. Separate collaborations connected him with Jean-Jacques Palix. His first solo release, Intervention, appeared on Young God Records in 2000. In addition, Coulter serves as a sound artist at Oxford’s Museum of Modern Art.