Band Archive
Archive are a London-based musical group, whose music spans electronica, trip hop and progressive rock.
Archive were formed by Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths in 1994 from the ashes of UK breakbeat act Genaside II. Together with female singer Roya Arab and young rapper Rosko John, the band released their first album "Londinium" on Island Records in 1996, a mix of dark Trip-Hop (in the same vein as Massive Attack), rap and alternative rock. The album received moderate critical acclaim, but due to internal dispute the band split up later that year.
Between 2002 and 2005 the band released three albums with Craig Walker, formerly of Power of Dreams, as singer, to growing popularity and critical acclaim, including a large following in France and Poland. These albums have seen Archive gradually turn away from their roots in Electronica and Trip-Hop and towards more psychedelic and progressive style of bands such as Pink Floyd, Mogwai and The Secret Machines. The band also composed the soundtrack to the French film Michel Vaillant, released in November 2003.
In May 2006, Archive released "Lights", from which the first single was "System". Dave Pen contributed on three tracks of the album and Maria Q sang on four tracks. Archive is now a sound and style of its own, that lives in a world miles away from anything else of present day.