Trembling Blue Stars took their name from a passage in Pauline Reage’s controversial novel The Story of O, and their wistful sound signaled the reemergence of singer-songwriter Robert Wratten, the onetime leader of British indie-pop act the Field Mice. Although the project began largely as Wratten’s own undertaking, producer Ian Catt played a major role from the outset; the group formed after the breakup of Northern Picture Library, the band Wratten had launched with his then-partner Annemari Davies once the Field Mice dissolved. Their 1996 debut on Shinkansen, Her Handwriting, examined the couple’s split through unflinchingly personal lyrics, framing those elegiac songs in delicate, atmospheric guitar textures.
By 1998’s Lips That Taste of Tears, a degree of reconciliation had evidently taken place, reflected in the renewed presence of Davies’ airy vocals. Broken by Whispers arrived in the United States the following year via Sub Pop, and that same period saw the addition of bassist Keris Howard, previously of Brighter, backing vocalist Beth Arzy, formerly of Aberdeen, and drummer Jonathan Akerman. The expanded lineup began performing in the U.K. before crossing the Atlantic for the first time. With assistance from another Sarah Records veteran, Harvey Williams of Another Sunny Day, the same musicians recorded 2001’s Alive to Every Smile.
The core membership stayed intact thereafter, yet the band parted ways with longtime label Shinkansen and signed with Spanish indie Elefant in time for 2004’s The Seven Autumn Flowers. Bar/None issued the album domestically, prompting a short promotional tour. After the early-2005 Bathed in Blue EP, the group completed and released its sixth album, The Last Holy Writer, in 2007. Shortly before the appearance of what would prove to be the final Trembling Blue Stars record, 2010’s Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires, Wratten announced the project’s conclusion.
