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Cranes are a British music group. Their music has frequently been described as incorporating elements of Gothic Rock, Dream Pop, and Shoegazing.

Formed in the mid 1980s in Portsmouth, England by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw, and named after the innumerable mechanical cranes around the city's docks, Cranes are best known for the childlike, high-pitched vocals of lead singer Alison, memorably likened by the NME to "a beautiful siren being slowly strangled on a spiral staircase of hammer-horror guitars".

Early on in their recording and performing career, the music of Cranes borrowed from both the industrial/avant-garde, deconstructive style of bands such as Einstürzende Neubauten, and the ethereal labyrinths of acts like Cocteau Twins. Following a general softening of their sound, the introduction of pop elements to their music, and a world tour with The Cure in 1992, the band's popularity increased, and peaked with the release of the albums Forever and Loved.

The band fell silent for a period of approximately four years after the release of Population 4 in 1997, but did not actually break up. In the early 2000s, they began writing music again, and released Future Songs and Particles and Waves on their own label, Dadaphonic. These albums signified a change in the overall style of their music, emphasising its ambient, ethereal qualities. Despite heading in a more electronic direction, however, the band's music continued to revolve around Alison Shaw's distinctive singing.

The band are currently in the studio finishing up their new album, release should be early to mid 2008.

• Fuse (MC, 1986)
• Self-Non-Self (1989)
• Wings of Joy (1991)
• Forever (1993)
• Forever Remixes (1993)
• Loved (1994)
• La tragédie d'Oreste et Électre (1996)
• Population 4 (1997)
• EP Collection, Vol. 1 & 2 (1997)
• Future Songs (2001)
• Live in Italy (2003)
• Particles and Waves (2004)
• Live at Paradisio 1991 (2007) (for download only)

• Inescapable (1990) - 4 non-album tracks
• Espero (1990) - 3 non-album tracks
• Adoration (1991) - 2 tracks including a non-album B-side
• Tomorrow's Tears (1991) - 4 tracks including 2 non-album tracks
• Adrift (1991) - 3 tracks including 1 non-album track
• Jewel (1993) - 3 different releases with remixes. One of them includes a non-album track
• Forever Remixes (1993) - 6 remixes of a few tracks from the Forever album
• Shining Road (1994) - 2 different releases each of them with 4 tracks including 2 (different) non-album tracks
• Can't Get Free (1997) - 5 tracks including 4 non-album tracks
• Submarine (2002) - 8 remixes of a few tracks from the Future Songs album
• The Moon City/It's a Beautiful World (7", 2002) - 2 non-album tracks

The track Astronauts from the 2004 album Particles and Waves has been used as music for the American Express commercial with actress Kate Winslet.

• Cranes Fan Forum. Retrieved on 2006-09-10.
• Dadaphonic. Retrieved on 2006-09-10.
• Non-official Cranes resource. Retrieved on 2006-09-10.
• Laurence, Alexander (June 2002). Cranes - An Interview with Alison Shaw. Free Williamsburg. Retrieved on 2006-09-10.
• Nesset, Kirk. The Cranes: An Interview With Ali Shaw. Legends Magazine Online. Retrieved on 2006-09-10.
• Cranes tabs chords and sheet music. guitar-music-tabs.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-10.
• Interview by Alexander Laurence (The Portable Infinite) © 2006