Crawley formed Shelleyan Orphan with Jemaur Tayle in the mid-’80s, bonding over a shared affection for the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley—and went on to make whimsical and dreamlike music that could only possibly be compared to the work of Dream Academy or Kate Bush (whose brother Paddy Bush performed along with her drummer on the Shelleyan Orphan album Helleborine).
The band released 4 albums—3 during their original run, and then the album We Have Everything We Need in 2008.
Cure frontman Robert Smith was a fan of theirs, and asked Shelleyan Orphan to open for The Cure’s 1989 Prayer Tour—While on that tour, Caroline Crawley began a relationship with Cure drummer Boris Williams, who contributed to the Shelleyan Orphan albums Humroot, and We Have Everything We Need.
Watch—at the top of the page—Caroline Crawley covering Syd Barret’s Late Night for the This Mortal Coil album Blood—an album where she also contributed vocals for The Lacemaker, Mr Somewhere, and Help Me Lift You Up.
Watch an assortment of Shelleyan Orphan videos below:
Cold winter’s journey Oh your soul keeps bleeding on Through the storm and the war…
Untie The few and far behind Interest informant redefined Form a feed within and without…
Lost in a dream again Tell me that you want me, no need to pretend…
You can’t believe what they say, they’ll treat you like a fool It hurts me…
Did you feel afraid to whisper? It’s such cold comfort but it’s real The weight…
When light has gone Snow angels will turn to grey Dark veil of our embrace…