The 40th anniversary edition of Andrew Poppy’s The Beating of Wings, originally released on ZTT Records. Hailed as “a major landmark in pop-classical genre-blending and post-minimalism” (Robert Davidson, Topology) and “… ahead of his time … he’d fit right in with the Max Richters and Nils Frahms of today” (Steven Wilson; Porcupine Tree, The Album Years podcast).

Composed and produced by Andrew Poppy and performed by his bespoke ensembles, The Beating of Wings contains four mesmeric tracks that mix acoustic orchestral instruments with electric piano, electric guitar, bass guitar, sampler, Fairlight Music Computer and drum machine. Each piece has its own narrative, perspective, musical world and colour held together by an infectious pulse.

For this release, the album has been remastered by Stephan Mathieu, and an expanded booklet includes new writing by Andrew Poppy. 2-panel gatefold sleeve, 24 page CD booklet and CD sleeve.

A gateway access to the world of contemporary classical music for fans of Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson and Kraftwerk, a generation of music fans discovered The Beating of Wings as it rubbed shoulders with ZTT’s pop artists, The Art of Noise, Propaganda and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. ZTT co-founder Paul Morley wrote in The Quietus, “ZTT needed Poppy as much as it needed Frankie”.

Andrew discusses some related influences on his work and the album here. 

Andrew Poppy is post-minimal composer, musician, vocalist, writer, record producer and arranger with a unique body of work and collaborations. He signed to Trevor Horn and Paul Morley’s ZTT Records in 1984. In 2022, False Walls released Poppy’s Ark Hive of A Live, a 4 CD / book collection.

“Andrew Poppy’s The Beating of Wings: 40th Anniversary Edition revisits a remarkable 1985 post-minimalist landmark, where orchestral music, electronics, repetition and pop collide with extraordinary precision and imagination. Originally released on ZTT Records in 1985, the album occupied an unusual position from the beginning: too adventurous to be conventional pop, too rhythmically immediate to sit comfortably within contemporary classical music, and too fascinated by the possibilities of recording technology to behave like a straightforward concert work. Forty years later, The Beating of Wings: 40th Anniversary Edition confirms just how remarkable that achievement was.
        This is not merely an anniversary reissue. It is a reminder that Andrew Poppy was working with ideas in the mid-1980s that have become increasingly familiar in the decades since: the meeting of acoustic and electronic instruments, the use of studio technology as a compositional tool, the rhythmic possibilities of minimalism, and the idea that a sophisticated contemporary composition could possess the propulsion and immediacy of pop music. Listening to it now, the extraordinary thing is not that the album sounds “retro.” It doesn’t. It sounds prescient.”
— Paris-Move

“Poppy’s music is like Madagascar — you discover species there you don’t find anywhere else.”
— Brian Morton, Wire magazine

“ … what you hear in Poppy’s music… is a keen ear for the large-scale, compositional use of timbre – the qualities that drew him to the cutting edge technology of ZTT’s studio-based culture. His music’s purpose is often revealed more effectively through the multi-tracked recording process. Younger composers may take this for granted but Poppy got there first.”
— John Walters, The Guardian

www.andrewpoppy.co.uk

CDs ordered from False Walls and Bandcamp are mailed from the UK. Other places where you can find or order False Walls CDs are shown here.

Physical/digital release: October 2, 2026
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