“ Era showcases some of ITN's finest work so far. The album is described by the band as exploring the themes of architecture, urban decay and regeneration. Things unfold in classic ITN manner with Blueprint. Questions of architecture aside, could the title also be a nod to some of the building blocks of the unmistakable In The Nursery sound? Perhaps that's part of the intention with the entire album. Does Era refer back to the past as much as the present? Is the choice of title a deliberate attempt almost to summarise the twenty five year era that Nigel and Klive Humberstone have been creating? I can't help believing that it does and is.”

“Ever since their humble beginning two decades ago, In The Nursery have topped the list of groups that just don't sound like anything else out there. Twin brothers Nigel and Klive Humberstone started with a foundation of military percussion, gradually incorporating classical influences and instrumentation. The rise of sampling technology helped not only to improve the sonic "realism" of their work but to expand the scope of their aural palette. By the early nineties, they were crafting grand, sweepingly cinematic music that cried out for visual accompaniment.”

“In the Music, In the Cinema, In the Arts, In the Nursery The least original thing one can say about In The Nursery’s music is that it fills your head with images, one after the other, as if they are frames in a film. While listening to ITN, all you need is a bit of talent and a load of patience in order to compose a script... But, I know that you know that already. What we didn’t know is how Klive and Nigel Humberstone listen, see and envisage music and moving images of any kind. Just before their live show in Athens (Wave Festival – 11 Oct.), we unfolded the red carpet in front of Klive and asked him to escort us at ITN’s best award nomination of all times. Please, take your seats. The ceremony is about to begin.”

“ITN started life as a classically post-punk band of its time and place - northern England in the early '80s. Aubade demonstrates how rapidly the band evolved from its stark beginnings to an unsettling theatricality in a short period of time. The initial mini-album tracks, recorded in a burst of studio activity over two days' time, are classic instances of making the most of limited resources, but songs like "Mystery," remade years later in their later style, and "A to I" nicely showcase the band's overt worship of atmospheric acts like Joy Division. The shift from more formal, familiar song structures to the fractured loops and screams of a song like "Breach Birth" or the stark declamatory tone of "Lost Prayer" demonstrates how ITN gained their industrial reputation, whilst showing their interest in detailed arrangements. As a fascinating bonus, the disc concludes with the title track - quite literally the first song performed at the group's live debut in 1981.”

“Aubade" célèbre les premières années (1981-1985) d'In The Nursery , la période la plus coldwave du groupe, entre tension à la Joy Division et rythmiques du Death In June des débuts. L'album comprend donc le premier mlp "When cherished dreams comes true", le 7" "Witness (To A Scream)" et les maxis "Sonority" (édité sur NER) et "Temper", s'ajoute à cela les deux titres de la compilation "From Torture to Conscience" et une curiosité inédite: "Aubade", le titre d'intro des concerts de1981. Plus complète que "Prelude", "Aubade" scelle donc les années de formation du groupe qui allait devenir le fleuron de la scène néoclassique industrielle. Un disque qui restitue à merveille l'ambiance grise de ces années fondatrices, à l'origine de ce qui deviendra la scène dark des décennies suivantes. En attendant le successeur du magistral album studio "Era", ce disque est indispensable pour tout ceux qui veulent explorer les racines des musiques industrielles et coldwave.”

“Led by Sheffield twins Klive and Nigel Humberstone, In the Nursery have been creating haunting epics since the early 1980s. Their earliest works tended toward the aggressive side of Industrial Dance, but as they developed as artists, their albums have come to unravel like a film soundtrack: indeed, they have scored films such as An Ambush of Ghosts and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. They rely primarily on electronic instruments to produce the lush sounds of an elaborate orchestra. Spoken word samples weave their way through the tracks and add haunting narrative elements. Their music evokes the heavy, eerie atmospheres of a Universal Pictures horror film. ”

“Before being online, I found out about new music mostly by hanging around records stores, and sometimes even buying CDs just because they were on a label I generally liked. ITN were one band I discovered that way, expecting their “Counterpoint” album (released on Wax Trax! in the US) to be along the lines of the ‘industrial dance’ music that label was primarily known for. I ended up being pleasantly surprised by how little it sounded like what I was expecting or had even ever heard before. While sampling and electronic sounds figured prominently, the music also had a very organic feel. Tracks like “Twins,” had an abrasive, Joy Division-like edge while others, like “Libertaire,” had a more orchestral, cinematic sound. Now they have gone back to their beginnings to release “Aubade,” a new compilation of recordings from their early years (1983-85) ”

“In the Nursery/ Deutzen We arrived at the stage and the band had already started playing and to what I think it was ‘Rainhall’ that just faded to give way to the epic ‘Blueprint’ with the heavy drum textures and orchestral sounds to Dolores’ voice, whereas how those drum beats are created sometimes steals the show from the vocalist. I just find it too interesting and time and again incredible what is happening there on stage.‘Hymn Noir’ followed and I still can’t get enough of that song like it is with ‘Mystery’ but I did find pleasure with the older, more post-punk songs like ‘A to I’ as well. The FLESH FIELD remix of ‘Au Reboirs’ effectively combines pounding electronic, acoustic drums and classical elements to a stirring mixture. An encore had to follow and I was right. One more time they came back to give us a worthy ending at the big stage on the first festival day. Again, I’m stunned.”