Stephen Clover (aka seht) is an artist, musician, software engineer, record-collector and writer based in Wellington, New Zealand. At some stage during the mid-nineties he came to the realization that he oughtn’t to maintain the artificial barriers between these disciplines, and stopped pretending he could.

In his outlet as a musician he has played in several bands, released a number of solo albums, and scored two films. Aside from actual releases, Clover also creates site-specific sound installations and performance pieces in collaboration with other artists. He has played in Birchville Cat Motel, collaborated with Howard Stelzer and Valerio Cosi, jammed with Pumice and Nigel Wright, supported Grouper and Jason Kahn, and formed The Stumps, a psychedelic rock band with Antony Milton (PseudoArcana, Mrtyu!) and James Kirk (Sandoz Lab Technicians, Gate). Clover has taken seht and The Stumps all around New Zealand, as well as over the seas to Australia.

One writer has described seht as “eerie DIY electronica vis. psychic/vocal hand-crafted spectral forms, archaic drum-machines and tactile blats of electricity” (Volcanic Tongue). Another warned that “seht will play the same note so quietly, for so long and with such slight decoration you’ll think your heart has stopped and your brain has melted” (Wellington City Art Gallery). Currently seht is obsessed with making music inspired by benzodiazepines, contact microphones, and the run-in and run-out grooves of thrift store LPs. Earlier concerns included investigations into the endurance properties of different types of tone-waves, the Basic Channel and Chain Reaction record labels, sound-warfare, and finding a way to construct in real time a giant magic golden shimmering chord suspended in the middle of the air.

Clover has never received an award, prize, or fellowship but in a couple of years ago a European music magazine named his 2006 album The Green Morning no. 3 in their Top 10 Albums of the Year, alongside other artists such as Tim Hecker, Machinefabriek and Burial. So, when not setting the music world on fire – though continuing to delight a small but dedicated band of enthusiastic followers – Clover has also turned his hand to writing for art publications and music magazines. He also runs a record label called Palindrone Recordings, and writes the code that runs Foxy Digitalis.

For more information please visit inlandscenic.net/stephenclover.

Selected Discography:

Dronemusic CDr (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, NZ) 2001

Goodbye America, and Have a Nice Day CDr (PseudoArcana, NZ) 2002

The Voice of the Taniwha CD (Last Visible Dog, US) 2003

Application Antarctica Download Form CD (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, NZ) 2005

Communion Longplayer CDr (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, NZ) 2005

The Green Morning CD (Digitalis, US) 2006

Exactly What You Lost CD w/Howard Stelzer (Intransitive Recordings, US), 2007

Dead Bees CD (PseudoArcana, NZ) 2008