Object sees Australian sonic experimentalist, Lawrence English cut a fresh pathway into the foliage-ridden realm of leftfield hip-hop beatscapes.

Based in Brisbane, Australia - a place known to most as the gateway to the sunny post-Los Angeles themed lands of the Gold Coast, Object (known to friends and family as Lawrence English) has been contributing uncharacteristic sonic debris to the soundscapes of the region for almost ten years.

In that time, his work has shifted focus, moving between various extremes and has seen him spawn a multitude of guises, each equipped to address a differing stylistic form and approach.

The initial stage of Object traces its conduit through Brisbane's hip-hop re-ignition of the mid-nineties. With acts forming on mass, English found himself at the centre of the leftfield hip-hop community, issuing a number of key Australian hip-hop documents on his imprint including the compilation River City Projects. Before long though, pressures of convention and commercialism forced out the initial thrust of freeform elements within the style that had drawn him to the music - from there, the true focus and interests of Object were born.

Leaving Object to lie dormant for a few years, English refocused his output into I/O, which explores the use of field recordings and concrete compositional ideas, created numerous installation works for galleries and also explored countless improvised situations allowing him to refine his abilities as an improviser and musical experimentalist.

It's now 2002 and English is reminded about some tracks scripted a year earlier with Sydney based vocalist Quro. A timely reminder indeed, as English had been spending several months that year working on a number of beat-oriented pieces for an as yet unknown project. Calling on Quro for a collaboration on another two pieces, the core of Pandemic was already well in place. Before long, the remainder of the record had taken shape, with elements of the disc coming together whilst English undertook various improvisations and performances in Tokyo and London in early 2003.

(Biography Last updated 29 September 2003)