In a Silent Way - Talk Talk and Mark Hollis uncovered in a documentary dedicated to the art of silence Doc and Roll Festival

Belgian director Gwen Brees takes a look at the band's unique approach to recording their final two albums Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock and how they just vanished from popular music

Gwen Breës’ obstacle-laden documentary takes a unique approach to uncovering the new wave act who simply faded into obscurity.

Belgian director Gwenaël Breës had a tough job on his hands with this documentary when he began filming in 2016. Tracking down anyone associated with the 80s new wave pioneers Talk Talk proved a task too much. The reclusive lead singer Mark Hollis declined any such involvement. Bassist, Paul Webb, no answer. Drummer, Lee Harris, nothing. Producer and unofficial member, Tim Friese-Greene, another decline. The film was looking doomed from the off. Why did they seem so reluctant to share? Music has an obvious way of getting out, so why act to pretend it never happened, never existed? These questions run throughout this documentary as to why Talk Talk was a band engulfed in complete mystery.

In addition to not involving Talk Talk’s members, and on Hollis’ request, Breës was told he may not be permitted to use any of Talk Talk’s music. This obstacle made it even more difficult as to get any understanding of the interesting thought process behind making a record like The Spirit of Eden or Laughing Stock. It also shows us how awkward musicians can become when they are approached by people working as superfans of a group.

The documentary begins in earnest upon a ferry from Breës’ native Belgium to the south-east of England asking some of those on board if they had any memory of the band in their 80s heyday. Sure enough, those who were old enough to remember them but had no clue in the slightest. This is followed by humorous shots of an imposing billboard of the internet broadband provider of the same name emerges instead. It is apparent that their legacy hasn’t had the desired effect of longevity.

Hollis formed Talk Talk in 1981 with Paul Webb and Lee Harris, who were in a Southend reggae band called Eskalator. Simon Brenner joined to complete the line-up on keyboard, and they released their debut album The Party’s Over a year later. The album was not a true reflection of Hollis and the music had been exposed to by his brother, Ed. As music journalism Jim Devin describes, “Mark had never got it quite right when it came to music. What he was talking about in 1982 was vastly different to the final product, which, in the end sounded something like Duran Duran”.

Being his elder brother, Ed Hollis was the vacuum for Mark’s obsession for abstract and alternative music and the documentary explores their relationship by going back to their roots in Canvey Island and Southend. The Essex seaside towns played a large part in Hollis’ musical upbringing. It became the center of the heavy blues and pub-rock movement of the early/mid 70s with pioneers such as Eddie and the Hot Rods and Dr Feelgood, the former being the band that Mark Hollis was a roadie for in the years prior to Talk Talk’s formation. Breës is seen mooching about with Wilko Johnson and the late Barrie Masters, who see Mark Hollis as their prodigy and friend. They clearly knew he was destined for some level of musical innovation.

It wasn’t just the sound of Essex that influenced Talk Talk’s outlook as a band, wildlife too played a part in the band’s experimental course from air-brushed look of the early 80s to the ecology and spirituality of what came to dominate the band’s identity during The Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock period. Look no further than the final three album covers. 1986’s The Colour of Spring with its autumnal array (ironically) of various butterfly species and the choice of a butterfly perhaps foreshadowing a cultural rebirth. The covers for The Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock take this ecological notion further with their distinctive symmetry of using a tree and with a carefully selected array of animals. Sea life, exotic birds, a tree between land and sea. The tree, as the documentary highlights, emulates a vision of the musical body, which by the turn of Laughing Stock, was withering with a flock of birds all close to extinction, a sign that Hollis saw himself as the end of his kind, even if that analysis is a great ego extension of his onto the band's output, something he came back to on his eponymous solo album

Hollis insisted on making the creative process a grueling endeavor, a journey more important than the destination. Talk Talk’s sound engineer, Phil Brown, recalls how, after making Laughing Stock, Hollis just fell into obscurity and rather than an end of album launch celebration, they “simply left and shook hands”. Following Hollis’ death in 2019, Breës’ documentary feels more like an obituary rather than a love letter.