• Genre: Rock
• Active: '90s, 2000s
• Instruments: Vocals, Guitar

Biography

Australian-born singer-songwriter Richard Davies formed the chamber-pop unit the Moles in Sydney in the late 1980s after growing disenchanted with studying law; concluding that he preferred composing poetry to writing essays for his class assignments, he soon began crafting his first songs. After finding some underground success in their native land as well as the U.S. and Britain, the Moles broke up around the beginning of 1993; Davies soon settled in New York City to begin a solo career, although in 1994 he released his solo debut, Instinct, under the Moles name. Through a mutual friendship with Sebadoh drummer Bob Fay, Davies joined forces with multi-instrumentalist and arranger Eric Matthews to form the duo Cardinal, which released their lush, symphonic self-titled debut to great acclaim in 1994. However, internal strife prompted the group to split soon after, and Davies began his solo career in earnest with 1996's baroque There's Never Been a Crowd Like This; on tour, he was backed by avowed fans the Flaming Lips. The superb Telegraph followed in 1998, and in 2000 Davies signed to the Kindercore label to issue his third solo LP, Barbarians. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Representative Albums:

Telegraph, There's Never Been a Crowd Like This, Barbarians

Similar Artists:

Bill Ricchini, Sweet Apple Pie, Young and Sexy, Vic Conrad, John Cunningham, Kelley Stoltz, The Kingsbury Manx, Andrew Beaujon, Aluminum Group, Belle & Sebastian, Elliott Smith, Neutral Milk Hotel, The High Llamas, Archer Prewitt, Jason Falkner, Tindersticks, The Auteurs, (Smog), The Flaming Lips

Influences:

Felt, Prefab Sprout

A Member of the Group:

Cardinal, The Moles

Barbarians Buy this CD

Telegraph Buy this CD

There's Never Been a Crowd Like This Buy this CD

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