Second Layer were an English post-punk band formed in 1979[1] by Adrian Borland (vocals, guitar) and Graham Bailey (keyboards, bass guitar, drum programming), both members of the Sound.
[4][5] In 2015, Dark Entries Records reissued the band's entire discography, augmented by five unreleased demo tracks, as the World of Rubber collection.
Andy Kellman of AllMusic wrote that the band "retained some of [the] feel" of the Sound, "albeit in a slightly detached fashion that's to be expected when synths and drum machines replace more human elements".
[2] In a 2015 retrospective review, The Quietus said, "The first thing that's noticeable on listening to World of Rubber is how utterly different the sound and aesthetic of Second Layer is compared to that of The Sound.
While The Sound had songs of gloomy introspection and a sweeping romanticism, Second Layer strips all of that away, leaving in its place a monochrome worldview morbidly obsessed with the dehumanising effect of war, nuclear weapon annihilation, and the fracturing and negation of the self within an increasingly distorted and technologically mediated society.