ARCHIVE

Archive are a musical group based in London, England, whose music spans electronic, trip hop, avant-garde, post-rock and progressive rock. Over their twenty-year history, the band has released ten studio albums and enjoyed established success throughout Europe, while remaining little-known in their native Britain.

Archive was formed by Darius Keeler and Rosko John in 1993. Shortly thereafter, Danny Griffiths, who had worked with Darius before in the UK breakbeat act Genaside II, joined the group. In 1994 after having created a sound, they were in search of a vocalist, and met female singer Roya Arab who joined them to sing on the demos Mother Records had paid for. Within weeks various record labels came knocking. The band released their first album Londinium on Island Records in 1996, a mix of dark trip hop (in a similar vein to Massive Attack), electronica and, naturally, their breakbeat and hardcore roots, but with the unequivocal match of string arrangements and almost baroque and classically influenced songwriting. The album received moderate critical acclaim and in Q magazine Peter Gabriel was quoted as saying, "Londinium was one of my most favourite albums of the year", but due to artistic differences, the band split up later that year.