Figures on a Beach was formed in Detroit, Michigan in the early 1980s out of the embers of pioneering electronic group Razor 1922.
With the additions of keyboardist Christopher Ewen and drummer Michael Smith in May 1981, the foundational version of Figures on a Beach was born, to be augmented further by bassist and guitarist Perry Tell, who joined the quartet in 1984.
The group released an independent EP, Swimming in 1983, the Don Was-produced single "Breathless" in 1984, as well as 1985's "Paradise/In Camera Obscura" for Detroit's Metro-America label.
[1] A self-titled LP (Figures on a Beach) followed in 1989, containing a hit cover of Bachman–Turner Overdrive's "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and a single titled "Accidentally 4th Street (Gloria)".
As well as carving out a successful career as a DJ in Boston and Cambridge, most notably at beloved nightspot ManRay, Chris Ewen went on to form Future Bible Heroes, a collaboration with Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson from The Magnetic Fields.