Caroline Crawley and Jemaur Tyle met in Bournemouth in 1980, and immediately clicked over their shared love of romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelly (their name deriving from Shelley’s poem “Spirit Of Solitude”). The band headed to London on the scent for orchestral elements to support their voices.

In 1986, the band signed to Rough Trade, releasing the singles “Cavalry Of Cloud” and “Anatomy Of Love”. Their debut effort “Hellobrine” reached number 5 on the UK indie chart, and featured Stuart Elliott (Kate Bush’s drummer) and Kate’s brother Paddy.

1989 saw the release of their sophomore effort; “Century Flower”, which caught the attention of Robert Smith (The Cure) and led to Shelleyan Orphan being invited on tour with them.

’92 saw the release of “Humroot”, and, shortly after, the band disbanded.

A new album was released on One Little Independent in 2008; “We Have Everything We Need”.

In October 2016, Caroline Crawley died as a result of a long illness.