Richard Warren was the singer and guitarist of the Hybirds, one of the least predictable bands of Brit-pop. After a few unsuccessful singles, they released the album Hybirds (Heavenly, 1998), which stands as one of the best of the genre.

After the Hybirds disbanded, Richard Warren released the 12-minute single Flashlegs (Pointblank, july 1998) under the moniker Echoboy. The album Echoboy (Pointblank, february 1999) was still a formative work, with a few nods to the new wave and a clear talent for odd melodies (Scene 30).

Warren grew up via the EP Pure New Wool (For US, may 1999), that includes Temporarily Drifting, She, 57-59 Bite the Bullet and Pure New Wool, and the EP Frances Says The Knife Is Alive (Mute, september 1999).

Volume One (Mute, march 2000) was the definitive statement. His passion for Kraftwerk and Neu is propelled to the front in 55, Broken Hearts, Contact. Mad ditties like Kit and Holly and Crocodile Milk bridge synth-pop, shoegazing and Stooges. Furthermore, Model 352 betrays the visceral alienation of Suicide. The new masterpiece is the 10-minute noise-dub tour de force of Constantinople.

Volume Two (Mute, september 2000) is, instead, an album full of filler, and mainly a container for Telstar Recovery (the single and his breakthrough hit). Echoboy still bridges unlikely territories like Stooges (Schram and Schettle 252, Turning On) and Pink Floyd (Suedwestfunk No. 5, Siobhan), but this time Warren seems more interested in dance-music (Make the City Sound, Kelly's Truck) and silly melodies.

The concept is still not too original on Giraffe (Mute, 2003), but the execution (thanks to producer Flood) is better than ever. Now that the experimental edge is gone, and the dance beats are leaner, Echoboy's music has become a hodgepodge of quotations from New Order and Depeche Mode. If Automatic Eyes and Don't Destroy Me work wonders in that format, the proceedings get a little tedious as songs go by and get more and more predictable (Lately Lonely, Comfort of the Hum). The album runs the gamut from the pensive Fun In You to the pummeling Good on T.V. (the best imitation of Sisters of Mercy in a decade), but it is the production that makes the difference. It is Flood's production that sculpts Wasted Spaces, High Speed in Love, and Summer Rhythm. In a typical case of form prevailing over content, the album delivers a batch of acceptable nostalgic revisitations of the 1980s, but that is also its limit.

The sprawling, 20-song Elektrik Soul Psymphonie (2005) is an interesting summary of sonic art at the beginning of the 21st century, from dissonant electronic music to space-rock to lo-fi pop.