BIOGRAPHY

Looper is the brainchild of Stuart David, hitherto known more for his bass playing in Belle and Sebastian than for his own music, writing, artwork and other creative outbursts. Visual artist and wife Karn David, along with photographer and brother Ronnie Black, make up the other portion of Looper, creatinga live performance filled with Stuart's sounds and stories and Karn and Ronnie's visual effects.

At an age when most people are preoccupied with their first crushes and the other trappings of puberty, Stuart began a flirtation with the pursuits of music and writing and his life hasn't been the same since.He began playing playing with his own bands in Glasgow when he was fifteen. One of those bands couldn't find a bassist, so Stuart did the logical thing - he learned to play bass. Eventually this led to his involvement in Belle and Sebastian, a staple of every indie fan's music library. So how did Looper come to be?

As Stuart tells it, "It all happened backwards. We got to know each other and then we met. And after we'd known each other for seven years, we had an anniversary, and the anniversary went quite well. So after that we had a honeymoon, and the honeymoon went well too - so after the honeymoon we decided to get married. And because we didn't want to have children and we couldn't think of what else to do - so we became Looper.

Our first show was at The Art School in Glasgow in winter, 1997. We covered thestage in TVs and moving sculptures, and Karn showed films for the songs on the TVs, while I sat behind a big box she had made and played the songs. My brother projected slides on the walls beside Karn's Super 8 loops, and nothing broke down and everybody clapped, so we decided to keep doing it.

And we still are.
It's good fun."

Drawing on musical and literary influences that span the spectrum from Beaudelaire to Fatboy Slim to Elvis to Bukowski, it's no wonder Stuart has found the perfect balance between words, music and images. Looper melds indie rock's lo-fi aesthetic and pop melodies with playful grooves and bouncy keyboard sounds. On their debut full-length, Up a Tree, the tone is set at the start and close of the record with children's voices and a playground atmosphere on the twin "Treehouse" numbers. Throughout the album, vocals vary fom Stuart's crisp Scottish spoken word narratives (as in "Impossible things" and Festival 95") to sampled vocal bits ("Ballad of Ray Suzuki"). In the charming love song, "Quiet and Small," he sings over gentle guitar strumming and a sparse keyboard keyboard line. Up a Tree showcases an array of sounds and styles befitting the name Looper.

In the summer of 1998, Looper debuted with a seven-inch on Sub Pop ("Impossible Things" / "Space Boy Dream #3"). Beyond his role as bassist for Belle and Sebastian, Stuart contributed two of his own Looper-esque songs: "Century of Elvis" on the Lazy Line Painter Jane EP and "A Space Boy Dream," which appears on The Boy with the Arab Strap. We are proud to bring you Looper's first full-length, Up a Tree, and hope to lure them to the U.S. for live performances. Until then, you are encouraged to take a deeper look into the world of Looper by visiting www.treehouse.clara.net. There you can listen to Looper songs, read Stuart's books, view art and animation in the gallery and cinema sections, and even make your own Looper song. It's good fun.