Deep Wound

The enigmatic Nurse with Wound returns to the operating theater

For more than 20 years, Nurse with Wound, the working name of British sound artist Steven Stapleton, has existed in recorded form only. With every performance that he has given since the mid 80s, he has been adamant that his presence on a stage does not constitute a Nurse with Wound event. Until now.

By some great spin of the cosmic dial, San Francisco has been rewarded with two performances by Stapleton under the Nurse with Wound mantle. The first night will be a performance of NWW's bleakly gorgeous oceanic masterwork Salt Marie Celeste, with a second evening devoted to a separate set of pieces.

It's common knowledge that Stapleton is completely removed from the heart of the London music scene, having pulled up stakes in 1989 to move to, of all places, a goat farm in Ireland. Nurse with Wound has remained prolific in its current bucolic environs, releasing an absolutely ridiculous number of albums and collaborating along the way with Stereolab, the Hafler Trio, Jim O'Rourke, and most notably, Stapleton's closest friend and frequent studio mate, David Tibet of Current 93. The relationship between Stapleton and Tibet has been immensely fruitful, no small feat considering the strong personalities of the pair. One of their many collaborations took place not in a studio but in London's Horse Hospital gallery, in 2002, as part of an exhibition that included audio art to accompany the viewing of visual pieces they also created. The music, found on Salt (Dutro, 2002), comprised two pieces, one by Current 93, the other by NWW. Stapleton later expanded his piece into the aforementioned Salt Marie Celeste, released on CD in 2003 on PanDutro.
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