Scritti Politti

Scritti Politti

Scritti Politti are a band from Leeds, England, active from 1978 to the present. They are primarily the vehicle for singer-songwriter Green Gartside, born Paul Julian Strohmeyer in Cardiff, Wales, in 1956. The group begins as a left-wing-influenced post-punk act and later develops into a more new wave and pop-oriented project, with substantial line-up changes shaping its early history.

Early period and debut album

The band forms in 1977 and grows out of Gartside’s reaction to the punk scene he encounters while studying at Leeds Polytechnic and seeing the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy tour in 1977. He moves away from punk’s rigid style and develops Scritti Politti’s sound over several years. The debut album, Songs to Remember, appears in 1982 and is not a commercial hit, but its mix of influences including 1960s pop rock and 1970s soul, together with philosophical and personal lyrics, brings the group strong critical praise. It later appears at number fourteen in Record Mirror’s critics’ list of the best albums of the 1980s.

Commercial breakthrough

Scritti Politti’s first charting single is The Sweetest Girl, released on Rough Trade in 1981 and also known as Sweetest Girl. It reaches number 64 on the UK singles chart. The band then becomes more successful through the 1980s, with chart presence in both the UK and the US alongside new wave contemporaries such as Duran Duran, The Human League and Simple Minds.

Their most successful album is Cupid & Psyche 85, released in 1985. It uses sampling and MIDI sequencing early in the album format, and produces the singles Perfect Way, The Word Girl, Wood Beez and Absolute. During this period the group works with American producer and keyboard player David Gamson and drummer Fred Maher, and its sound becomes more commercially accessible while retaining Gartside’s poetic writing.

Later work and Gartside’s return

After this period of success, Gartside withdraws from the music industry for nearly a decade and returns to south Wales. He resumes recording in the late 1990s and issues two critically noted albums in 1999 and 2006. White Bread Black Beer, released in 2006, receives a Mercury Music Prize nomination and marks a major comeback. In the same year Gartside tours the UK, Ireland, the United States and Japan, his first live performances in around twenty-five years.

Gartside is known for a distinctive whispering vocal style. Scritti Politti’s line-up includes, at different times, Simon Booth, Joe Cang, Dave Ferrett, Steve Ferrone, David Gamson, Green Gartside, Niall Jinks, Matthew Kay, Fred Maher, Rhodri Marsden, Alyssa McDonald, Dicky Moore, Tom Morley and Allan Murphy. The group’s styles include art pop, art punk, blue-eyed soul, dub, hip hop and new wave.