Scissorgun are a two-piece soundscape project from Manchester comprising Alan Hempsall (Crispy Ambulance) on treated guitars, vocals and trumpet, and David Clarkson (Spectral Bazaar and solo projects) on synths, keyboards, drum programming and field recordings. The duo came together in the summer of 2016 with a view to creating spontaneous music, and the following year unveiled debut release Assault Two, issued on 10” vinyl in 2017. An album of beats, fractured ambiance and spoken word, Electronic Sound magazine discerned an ‘attractive spell of narcotic delirium’, while Mojo praised ‘Northern electronic shanties and sound collages that feel like snapshots of a city at night, moving from drunken chaos to minicab grime reveries to a new dawn electronic beauty.’ The band’s influences range from post-rock to prog, jazz to electronic, and even occasional forays into experimental pop. Written and recorded in stages over an 18 month period, second album All You Love Is Need is a combination of cinematic and experimental landscapes led by bright, treated guitar. ‘The album reflects a subliminal shift in people’s perceptions of global events over the course of that time,’ explains Alan Hempsall. ‘The ability to translate new sensations into the act of creating is a state worth striving for. To do this we tried new ways (to us) of hearing, of listening. We work to subvert the narrative whilst keeping close to the one thing that unites us all. Hope.
