Talk Talk

Talk Talk were an English band formed in London in 1981, built around the core trio of singer and songwriter Mark Hollis, drummer Lee Harris, and bassist Paul Webb, with keyboardist Simon Brenner an early member who departed in 1983. They began as part of the synth-pop wave, scoring hits with «Talk Talk», «It's My Life», and «Such a Shame», and the album The Colour of Spring pushed them toward richer, more organic arrangements while still yielding a major hit in «Life's What You Make It».

From the mid-1980s onward the band moved dramatically away from pop conventions. Their albums Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, made with producer Tim Friese-Greene, replaced verse-chorus songwriting with long-form, improvisation-influenced pieces built from extended studio sessions, silence, and dynamic contrast rather than hooks. Tracks like «Myrrhman», «The Rainbow», and «After the Flood» exemplify this shift.

This late period is now widely credited as a foundational influence on post-rock, shaping bands that followed even though Talk Talk themselves had little commercial success with this material. Hollis largely withdrew from music after the group disbanded in the early 1990s, and Talk Talk's catalogue has since been reassessed as one of the most quietly influential in British rock.