Attrition was formed in Coventry in 1980 by Martin Bowes and Julia Niblock, with Bowes’ brother Chris on guitar. Bowes had been running the xeroxed fanzine Alternative Sounds since 1979, documenting the Coventry scene across 18 issues, which ended in the Cherry Red compilation “Sent from Coventry”. The music sets synthesizer washes and hard beats against Bowes’ low growl and Niblock’s soprano.
They signed to Third Mind Records in 1983 for the debut The Attrition of Reason, recorded at home, which Sounds called “a punk Floyd”. The Voice of God EP followed that November. They came up in the same early-eighties British scene as Coil, Test Dept, Legendary Pink Dots and Portion Control, two of whom shared the 2025 bill with them.
