Biography
Late in 1985, Talulah Gosh emerged as standard-bearers of the British twee pop movement when economics student Amelia Fletcher and struggling artist Elizabeth Price crossed paths at an Oxford-area club. Both sported Pastels badges, and their shared enthusiasm for indie rock spurred them to launch a band on the spot. Aiming at first for a post-punk spin on 1960s girl-group sounds, the would-be singers lacked the bandwidth to assemble compatible female players, so they enlisted Fletcher’s 15-year-old brother Mathew on drums, her boyfriend and record-store clerk Peter Momtchiloff on guitar, and Chris Scott on bass; Rob Pursey, who completed the original lineup, departed after just three performances.
The group made its live bow in March 1986, supporting the Razorcuts, opening with “Pastels Badge,” a track that paid tribute to the circumstances of their formation. Their first recording arrived soon afterward as “I Told You So,” appearing on a split flexi-disc with the Razorcuts via the small Sha-La-La imprint, whose proprietor Matt Haynes would later co-found the influential Sarah Records. A BBC Radio One session for Janice Long preceded their signing to Edinburgh’s 53rd and 3rd label, which issued the debut EP Steaming Train in 1987. The band’s jangly, winsome material and cotton-candy vocals quickly earned a devoted cult audience and positioned Talulah Gosh at the center of the U.K. press’s so-called “shambling” scene.
Price exited prior to the release of Steaming Train, weary of the group’s disorganized and frequently out-of-tune concerts—guitars snapped, amplifiers failed, and cymbals toppled, compelling onstage repairs between numbers. With Eithne Farry now sharing vocal duties, Talulah Gosh returned to the studio in 1987 to cut the follow-up EP Where’s the Cougar, Matey?; the single “Testcard Girl” came next, yet after a concluding John Peel session the band dissolved in February 1988 so its members could resume their university studies. The Fletcher siblings and Momtchiloff subsequently regrouped in Heavenly, which also included original Gosh bassist Rob Pursey.
The group made its live bow in March 1986, supporting the Razorcuts, opening with “Pastels Badge,” a track that paid tribute to the circumstances of their formation. Their first recording arrived soon afterward as “I Told You So,” appearing on a split flexi-disc with the Razorcuts via the small Sha-La-La imprint, whose proprietor Matt Haynes would later co-found the influential Sarah Records. A BBC Radio One session for Janice Long preceded their signing to Edinburgh’s 53rd and 3rd label, which issued the debut EP Steaming Train in 1987. The band’s jangly, winsome material and cotton-candy vocals quickly earned a devoted cult audience and positioned Talulah Gosh at the center of the U.K. press’s so-called “shambling” scene.
Price exited prior to the release of Steaming Train, weary of the group’s disorganized and frequently out-of-tune concerts—guitars snapped, amplifiers failed, and cymbals toppled, compelling onstage repairs between numbers. With Eithne Farry now sharing vocal duties, Talulah Gosh returned to the studio in 1987 to cut the follow-up EP Where’s the Cougar, Matey?; the single “Testcard Girl” came next, yet after a concluding John Peel session the band dissolved in February 1988 so its members could resume their university studies. The Fletcher siblings and Momtchiloff subsequently regrouped in Heavenly, which also included original Gosh bassist Rob Pursey.