Emerging from the modest Midlands settlement of Peterborough, located roughly midway between Birmingham and Cambridge, the Contrast operate as a straightforward guitar-pop outfit whose sound echoes the Dentists and assorted 1980s British indie guitar ensembles while drawing a more pronounced influence from late-1970s new-wave outfits such as Television and Blondie.
The band began as a three-piece anchored by singer, songwriter, and guitarist David Reid alongside bassist Chris Corney and drummer James Crossley; that configuration produced the 2000 album Mystery #1 for the British independent imprint Rainbow Quartz Records. Once those sessions concluded, Corney departed, giving way to second guitarist Spencer Hart and bassist Richard Mackman. With this updated roster the Contrast completed Wireless Days in 2002 and followed it with Fade Back In in 2004. By the arrival of their fourth album, 2005’s Forget to Tell the Time, Little Steven had become a committed supporter, regularly airing the group’s material on his Underground Garage radio program. Underground Ghosts appeared in 2007, after which the band assembled a 2008 compilation, Perfect Disguise: Introducing the Contrast, that drew tracks from their first four releases and was released on Little Steven’s Wicked Cool Records label. Two years later the Contrast issued their first full-length effort for the same imprint, God of Malfunction.
