Andrew Ostler: synthesizers, laptop, processing, bass clarinet

Darkroom was formed in 1996 to provide a live soundtrack at the Nevers Film Festival, France. Their debut album ‘Daylight’ was released in 1998 on the 3rd Stone label; since then Darkroom have released seven further albums and made numerous live appearances including Glastonbury, Sprawl, Improvizone, Tuesday’s Post, festivals in Zürich, Antwerp, Köln, Cambridge and London, and recently Hack The Barbican.

Darkroom’s music starts with improvisation and a unique approach to sound design. By turns beautiful and beautifully ugly, this is a very human music that always sounds ‘played’ not ‘programmed’ - despite the inevitable technology that produces it.

Guitar but not guitar; synthesizers but not keyboards - the lines between guitar and electronics are consistently blurred, along with those between improvisation and composition. While live performance is the starting point, the 2008 Some Of These Numbers Mean Something and 2013 Gravity’s Dirty Work albums showcase extended composition through editing and post-production.

As well as releases in traditional album formats, Darkroom have released a considerable amount of their music free online via podcasts and SoundCloud.

Mike is also guitarist for No-Man and Henry Fool among others, appearing on both live and studio recordings.

Andrew runs music software and hardware company Expert Sleepers, specialising in the integration of computers and analogue, particularly modular, synths.