Amoeba (band)
This article is about the experimental music group with Robert Rich and Rick Davies. For the organism, see Amoeba.
Amoeba is an experimental music group that fuses the
pop and
ambient music genres. They formed in
California,
USA in
1992. The core members of the group are ambient musician
Robert Rich and guitarist/bassist
Rick Davies.
Rich and Davies have worked together since
1979. Davies had just returned to the United States after working with several experimental rock groups in the
United Kingdom and
Spain. During the next five years, Rich and Davies worked on several collaborative projects. The style of these projects was an aggressive blend of
art rock and pure
avant-garde composition.
In
1983 Rich and Davies formed a trio with bassist Andrew McGowan called
Urdu. Urdu performed several concerts in the
San Francisco Bay Area. One of their last performances was a live radio broadcast in
1984. Some of their recorded material was released as a
self-titled album on
cassette in
1985.
In
1992 the first version of Amoeba formed. It was a quartet featuring Robert Rich, Andrew McGowan, guitarist David Hahn and drummer Matt Isaacson. They released a five song EP-CD in
1993 titled
Eye Catching. This lineup dissolved soon after the release of
Eye Catching.
In
1994 Rick Davies came to Rich with some of his new musical ideas. They were slow folk inspired pop compositions with strong ambient sensibilities. They decided to incorporate these ideas into a new version of Amoeba. This lineup featured Rich on vocals,
synthesizers, percussion,
lap steel guitar and flutes and Davies on guitars and bass. They developed a style consisting of slow, hypnotic and largely acoustic pop compositions and Rich's classic ambient textures and acoustic recordings. Their lyrics range from abstract to darkly emotional. This form of Amoeba has released two albums,
Watchful (
1997) and
Pivot (
2000). Each of these albums features a number of guest performers including cellist Hans Christian.
After the release of
Pivot Davies went on to pursue his solo career in
Tucson, Arizona. Rich continues to release ambient solo albums and tour at a prolific rate. Both musicians continue to hold a future Amoeba project as a possibility, though there are difficulties due to the geographic distance between them.
*
1993 Eye Catching*
1997 Watchful*
2000 Pivot
