What would become Machine Translations originated as a solitary home-recording endeavor by multi-instrumentalist J. Walker. Although the material he composed leaned pop, the constraints of primitive reel-to-reel four-track equipment combined with an affinity for complex time signatures steered the results toward more experimental territory. Nevertheless, the early demos retained sufficient pop potential to attract interest from the label Spunk!, which offered him a contract. Because releases on Spunk! required touring, Walker assembled a constantly rotating cast of friends to function as his live band. Among the few consistent presences was pianist Kevin White, while Walker reconstituted an entirely new configuration with each of his frequent relocations.
Once he completed studies in Linguistics and Mandarin Chinese, Walker came back to Australia from Shanghai and produced the first three Machine Translations albums during an intense burst of activity. Abstract Poverty appeared in 1997, followed by Halo in 1998 and Holiday in Spain in 1999. His impressionist lyrics drew heavily on Chinese poetry, packing individual lines with layered meanings yet leaving the overall impression sufficiently ambiguous to invite multiple readings. The subsequent pair of albums, Bad Shapes in 2001 and Happy in 2002, demanded more extended periods of work, during which he refined his home-recording methods and developed production abilities that later enabled him to helm projects for C.W. Stoneking, Andrew Morris, and the Boat People. Following an interval filled with guest contributions to other artists’ recordings, Walker returned to his home studio and completed Venus Traps Fly in 2004. In contrast to the deliberate pace of the two preceding releases, he wrote and tracked the majority of the album within two months, favoring a sound that relied less on electronics and more on guitar. Material from his EP Love on the Vine was also folded into the album. His seventh release, issued in 2007, carried the fitting title Seven Seven.
