Members

URI D’OBSCUREE

(Space does not define him)

Biog

Born of Moravian parents, Uri spent his childhood in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, the famous ‘Rive Gauche’. He moved to Cardiff in his late teens and became the self proclaimed oculist ambassador for Poncanna uniting the cosmic with the suburbs through his theoretical publication ‘Constellational Reality’, which proposes a system for living which also informs his songwriting. It has been said that when in Paris he purchased the polished hip bone of Aleister Crowley at a flea market and sleeps with it under his pillow. Uri denied this in Radio Interview in 2005 but rumour persist to this day, fueled by anecdotes from numerous ex-lovers.

Uri has been a musician/poet and iconaclast for 3 decades, playing and singing in now infamous bands such as the punk goth quartet ‘Padlock’, Sci-fi soft rock band ‘Attempting Re-entry’ and the duo ‘Deviled Eggs’ which is a big influence on Starling’s Planet. He has released several successful books of poetry including the WPA nominated ‘Against the fold’ which combines poetry and diagrams for making origami birds where, in the words of Neville Poplar (Arts critic for the Western Mail, Cardiff),  “words literally ‘fly off the page’ and the semantics become sculpture traversing physical space. Uri, like everyone in the digital age, exists in many places at once, yet few of us go dancing in the spiritual realm and sit by the fire drinking herbal tea with ghosts as often as he does.”

Vi

Biog

Vi is a symbol of our disembodied presence. The physical person may not be present but the essence of personality is with other forms. A singer exists through a song on the radio but they are not among us in person. Vi is symbolic as an Ambassador without human presence. Vi’s voice comes from ‘another place’ channeled by Uri from the past it is the embodiment of collective memory energy,  of what has gone or been lost yet channeled through Vi into the moment.

Uri said ” I found Vi in a charity shop, I guess she was waiting for me, she is a prop but she is more than that, she is a sculpture entity,  a symbol, a metaphor and a material member of the band. I sense Vi’s consciousness grow with every performance, through familiarity we are developing ‘an icon’. ” *

*Quote: Interview from  ‘Uri in the Underworld’ Cymrootz Welsh Music Fanzine Issue 12 Autumn 2018

Elton Braces

 

Biog

Born in North London in 1976 above a Bacon and Bubble Cafe. He first had a brush with fame as an audience member of Top of the Pops, when he stood between Noel Edmonds and Stevie Dick. The teenage Elton shouted “Sausage Pants’ loudly over the introduction by Edmunds of ‘I should be so lucky’ by Kylie Minogue. A Youtube clip exists on the internet with almost 500,000 likes.  Elton came to Cardiff to study Fine Art at Howard Gardens in 1991.

Elton is a recent addition to the Starlings Planet. A pioneer of Ironik (pronounced ‘Ear-Ron-Nick) Rock in the 1990’s, he was lead singer and keyboard player for Crimes Against Graphic Design, an art pop group formed at Cardiff Art College. They are probably best known for their single ‘The Comic Sands of Time’ in 1993 which reached the dizzy heights of No. 66 for one week in the NME music charts. Elton wore Uri’s iconic beret for the first Starlings Planet gig with white plastic glasses. A member of the audience compared his look to Captain Sensible to which Braces in true post-postmodern Ironi-Rock style said ‘I did it because I didn’t want to look Sensible..’