TWO DAUGHTERS – Sad Horizons

Two Daughters was an enigmatic experimental early 1980s outfit based in Brixton, UK. One theory is that it was a duo consisting of Anthony Burke who passed away in 2004 and a guy named Paul. “Anthony & Paul” was the name of the one-off United Dairies subsidiary label created to release the Two Daughters LP, as Steven Stapleton did not want it appearing on his parent label. The other theory is that Two Daughters was recording engineer and one time Nurse With Wound collaborator Nicky Rogers, augmented with uncredited musicians. The only confirmed contributor was Jon More, playing clarinet on one track.

Two Daughters were recording in Brixton around 1980-1982 and were closely connected to the Industrial Records and Throbbing Gristle gang. They recorded a debut tape called Ladder of Souls released on their own Methane Music in 1980. Their one-and-only LP Kiss The Cloth / Gloria was released in 1981 on Anthony & Paul Records, a sub-division of United Dairies Records the label run by Stephen Stapleton of Nurse with Wound. The LP then also got reissued on United Dairies in 1987. A substantially edited version of “Return Calls – We Are” can be found on the Cherry Red compilation, Perspectives and Distortion (1982). The music and unique percussion-driven style of ambient and experimental sounds are in the vein of bands like O Yuki Conjugate — they still hold the test of time. Anthony passed away in 2004.