Arion

Blue States accidentally established themselves at the forefront of the burgeoning wave of downtempo acts way back in 1998. Their debut album 'Nothing Changes Under the Sun' was released on Memphis Industries in September 2000, stunning critics and punters alike with its glorious retro-futurism.

In 2002 the second album "Man Mountain" was released on XL Recordings, which saw Blue States up the anti somewhat with the addition of vocalist Ty Bulmer. Including a string quartet, horn section and a kids choir "Man Mountain" was an all together grander affair, the standout track being 'Season Song' which ended up on the 28 Days Later soundtrack.

Never one to try and replicate his past endeavours, the third album "The Soundings" released in 2004. With Chris Carr taking on lyrical and vocal duties The Soundings saw Blue States once again morph into something new. The layers of strings and brass were stripped back to reveal something darker and more personal.

September 2007 saw the release of the fourth album 'First Steps Into..' on Memphis Industries. For this album Andy did a Michael Palin and went full circle, returning to the ethos of Nothing Changes and becoming a one man band again. "Allies' became the standout track, with its mix of otherworldly vocals and dense strings, all wrapped up in electronic sensibility. A solely written and produced album it sonically borrows from all three previous albums.

'Sum Of The Parts' was released in 2009, an Itunes only album comprising of b-sides from all of their releases from 1998 to 2007. A new album is being concocted at the moment planned for a 2013 release.