Main

Main were a British band formed in 1991 by guitarists Robert Hampson and Scott Dowson, both formerly of the English rock band Loop. Drawing on that group's experimentation with drones and guitar texture, the duo moved further into ambient sound, eventually abandoning traditional percussion and rhythm altogether. They released a number of albums and EPs to critical praise in the 1990s. Dawson left the group in 1996. In 2006, Hampson announced that Main had effectively been disbanded in favour of his solo work. In October 2010, he announced that he would be reactivating Main as a more collaborative process with other sound artists. In 2011, the German composer Stephan Mathieu joined Hampson for a current incarnation of the project.