Crescent (band)

{{Short description|English alternative music band}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}

Crescent are an alternative music band from Bristol, England, formed in the early 1990s by Matt Jones (guitar, vocals and other instruments), Chris Locke (bass on earlier albums) and Jasper Larsen (drums and percussion). Currently, the two principal members are brothers Matt Jones and Sam Jones (guitar and other instruments). Sam Jones also plays and records as 'The Balky Mule'.{{Cite web|date=2010-08-01|title=The Balky Mule|url=https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2010/08/balky-mule/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806001516/http://www.folkradio.co.uk:80/2010/08/balky-mule/ |archive-date=6 August 2010 |access-date=2020-06-20|website=folkradio.co.uk}}

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Both the Jones brothers are also members of Movietone. Kate Wright (singer and guitarist in Movietone) is also the bass player in Crescent. Movietone's Rachel Coe plays clarinet on their 2017 album Resin Pockets, and Sam Jones occasionally played live with Flying Saucer Attack, a band which also had Rachel Coe (then Brook) as a permanent member.{{Cite magazine |last=Stannard|first=Joseph|date=August 2015|title=Bristol UFOs|magazine=The Wire |issue=378}}

Crescent's music is generally slow, minimalistic and melancholy, unsurprisingly in a similar vein to Movietone but with an occasionally harsh, discordant edge, particularly in the earlier records.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Recordings are deliberately low fidelity, often incorporating ambient sounds and samples of speech.{{Cite magazine |last=Roberts|first=Randy|date=February 1997|title=Reviews: Crescent -- Now -- Atavistic|magazine=CMJ New Music Monthly |issue=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DS0EAAAAMBAJ&q=%22cmj+new+music+monthly%22+music+crescent+bristol&pg=PA33}} The second album Electronic Sound Constructions was recorded by Matt Jones alone, and is entirely instrumental. The release of By the Roads and the Fields (2003) marked a change of style{{Cite web |last=Neyland |first=Nick |title=Harder Shade of Dark: The Sound of Bristol Post-Rock|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/pitchfork-essentials/9705-harder-shade-of-dark-the-sound-of-bristol-post-rock/|date=2015-08-21 |access-date=2020-06-20|website=Pitchfork|language=en}} and since then the band have adopted a more song-focused approach.{{Cite magazine |last=Bliss|first=Abi|date=June 2017|title=Soundcheck: Crescent -- Resin Pockets (review) |magazine=The Wire |issue=400}}

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