Biography
A figure long immersed in post-punk and industrial circles, modular synthesizer devotee Drew McDowall has performed with outfits including Coil and Psychic TV while issuing his own recordings. The atmospheric electronic layers he supplied played a decisive role in defining the quietly pioneering character of Coil’s output across the 1990s and 2000s. Once he departed the group, further endeavors kept him occupied, with heightened productivity marking the 2010s as he issued solo albums that included Collapse in 2015.
In 1978 the Scottish artist formed the post-punk band the Poems alongside then-wife Rose McDowall. Live appearances remained scarce because Glasgow pub audiences showed little interest in their sound and no other venues existed for them. McDowall later relocated to London, set guitar-based music aside, and entered the industrial milieu. There he collaborated with Genesis P-Orridge and Psychic TV before joining Coil in the ’90s, where he contributed to remixes of Nine Inch Nails and the landmark album Musick to Play in the Dark. In 2000 McDowall exited Coil, settled in New York City, and became a steady presence in its experimental music community. He launched the project Captain Sons and Daughters with Kara Bohnenstiel and subsequently formed Compound Eye with Tres Warren of Psychic Ills. The duo’s first release, the Origin of Silence LP, appeared on Spring Press in 2012; Journey from Anywhere followed on Editions Mego.
At the encouragement of Long Distance Poison’s Nathan Cearley, who asked him to play one of the quarterly Modular Solstice concerts in 2012, McDowall began performing solo. His activity increased sharply, leading Dais Records to issue his first solo album, Collapse, in 2015. Two years afterward the same label put out his second solo album, Unnatural Channel, mixed by Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv and Second Woman. The Ghost of Georges Bataille, an EP created with Hiro Kone, came out on BANK Records NYC in 2018, and later that year Full-length The Third Helix appeared.
In 1978 the Scottish artist formed the post-punk band the Poems alongside then-wife Rose McDowall. Live appearances remained scarce because Glasgow pub audiences showed little interest in their sound and no other venues existed for them. McDowall later relocated to London, set guitar-based music aside, and entered the industrial milieu. There he collaborated with Genesis P-Orridge and Psychic TV before joining Coil in the ’90s, where he contributed to remixes of Nine Inch Nails and the landmark album Musick to Play in the Dark. In 2000 McDowall exited Coil, settled in New York City, and became a steady presence in its experimental music community. He launched the project Captain Sons and Daughters with Kara Bohnenstiel and subsequently formed Compound Eye with Tres Warren of Psychic Ills. The duo’s first release, the Origin of Silence LP, appeared on Spring Press in 2012; Journey from Anywhere followed on Editions Mego.
At the encouragement of Long Distance Poison’s Nathan Cearley, who asked him to play one of the quarterly Modular Solstice concerts in 2012, McDowall began performing solo. His activity increased sharply, leading Dais Records to issue his first solo album, Collapse, in 2015. Two years afterward the same label put out his second solo album, Unnatural Channel, mixed by Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv and Second Woman. The Ghost of Georges Bataille, an EP created with Hiro Kone, came out on BANK Records NYC in 2018, and later that year Full-length The Third Helix appeared.
Albums
A Thread, Silvered and Trembling
2024
Undulations and Aberrations
2023
Entanglement
2023
Agalma
2020
The Third Helix
2018
Unnatural Channel
2017
Collapse
2015
Singles
