Crescent

Crescent is a Bristol-based group associated with alternative music, slow, minimal and melancholy song forms, and recordings that often use low fidelity production, ambient sound and speech samples. The project forms in the early 1990s in Bristol, England, around Matt Jones, who performs guitar, vocals and other instruments. Early members include Chris Locke on bass and Jasper Larsen on drums and percussion.

The current core of the group centres on brothers Matt Jones and Sam Jones, with Sam playing guitar and other instruments. Sam Jones also records as The Balky Mule, and both brothers are also members of Movietone. Kate Wright, who sings and plays guitar in Movietone, also plays bass in Crescent. Rachel Coe of Movietone appears on clarinet on the 2017 album Resin Pockets, and Sam Jones also plays live at times with Flying Saucer Attack, a group that also includes Rachel Coe.

Crescent’s earlier releases have a harsher and more discordant edge, while later work moves towards a more song-focused approach. The second album, Electronic Sound Constructions, is recorded by Matt Jones alone and is entirely instrumental. By the Roads and the Fields marks a change in style, and subsequent releases continue that shift.