John Chantler

Electro-acoustic composer and modular synth enthusiast John Chantler originated near Brisbane, Australia, yet has lived for extended periods abroad across Japan, South London, and Stockholm, Sweden. His initial limited-edition releases appeared on his own Inventing Zero Records imprint, which also put out an early 7" by Ben Frost, before his full-length debut Monoke became one of the earliest titles on Lawrence English’s Room40 label. At that stage his sound leaned toward sparse, downtempo glitch textures. After the album’s appearance he contributed to projects by Japanese artists including experimental psych ensemble Maher Shalal Hash Baz, glitch-pop diva Tujiko Noriko, and indie pop duo Tenniscoats.

With Swedish musician Carina Thorén he formed drone-folk duo For Barry Ray, whose debut full-length New Days came out on Room40 in 2007. Chantler joined Noriko and English for the 2008 full-length U, and he and English further recorded together as Holy Family, yielding limited cassettes on Digitalis and Sanity Muffin. His first solo full-length devoted to modular synth compositions, the stunning The Luminous Ground, surfaced on Room40 in 2011; later that year the limited Automatic Music LP followed on Inventing Zero. Automatic Music, Vol. II arrived on cassette via the Tapeworm in early 2014, while the dark, unsettling Even Clean Hands Damage the Work appeared on Room40 later the same year. Chantler began combining modular synths with pipe organ in live settings and on Still Light, Outside, released by 1703 Skivbolaget in 2015. Room40 issued his most melodic album to date, Which Way to Leave?, the following year, featuring contributions from Thorén and avant-garde cellist Okkyung Lee. The sprawling Tomorrow Is Too Late appeared in 2019.