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CD
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GZH 068CD
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Manchester-based duo Shield Patterns return with Mirror Breathing. Released on band member Richard Knox's own Gizeh Records label, Mirror Breathing follows on from the critically acclaimed debut album Contour Lines (GZH 055CD/LP, 2014) and Violet EP (GZH 060CD, 2015). Where its predecessors took a more stark, electronic and processed approach, Mirror Breathing is an altogether warmer, more cinematic record. The cello of guest collaborator Julia Kent (Antony & The Johnsons, The Leaf Label) introduces a new element and a new energy to the sound, pulling the songs into a more symphonic form. The electronics, drones and field recordings are intricately and painstakingly arranged by the duo, meandering between haunting vocal passages, clarinet swells and delicate synth phrases. The album ebbs and flows through hypnotic beats ("Dusk", "Blue Shutters", "Glow"), ethereal and tender piano-led songs ("Bruises", "Anymore") to more aggressive, heavily experimental, free-jazz elements ("Balance & Scatter"). Continuing the fiercely DIY ethos adopted by both band and label, Mirror Breathing has been written, recorded and produced in its entirety by Claire Brentnall and Knox in their home studio in the Peak District. The record is both personal and universal; an exploration in sound and songwriting. The music Shield Patterns are making is difficult to place into genres or pigeon-holes. Experimental sounds are married to striking, inventive melodies throughout; it's contemporary pop music of sorts with a richly detailed cosmic edge. Some words from Claire about the album: "The album for me is about feeling connected; exploring what it means to be a friend, to be in love, to be an individual, to be part of a collective unconscious. It's about the beauty of imperfection, of making mistakes, and the discoveries that are made by chance as we learn to exist."
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LP
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GZH 068LP
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LP version. Includes download code. Manchester-based duo Shield Patterns return with Mirror Breathing. Released on band member Richard Knox's own Gizeh Records label, Mirror Breathing follows on from the critically acclaimed debut album Contour Lines (GZH 055CD/LP, 2014) and Violet EP (GZH 060CD, 2015). Where its predecessors took a more stark, electronic and processed approach, Mirror Breathing is an altogether warmer, more cinematic record. The cello of guest collaborator Julia Kent (Antony & The Johnsons, The Leaf Label) introduces a new element and a new energy to the sound, pulling the songs into a more symphonic form. The electronics, drones and field recordings are intricately and painstakingly arranged by the duo, meandering between haunting vocal passages, clarinet swells and delicate synth phrases. The album ebbs and flows through hypnotic beats ("Dusk", "Blue Shutters", "Glow"), ethereal and tender piano-led songs ("Bruises", "Anymore") to more aggressive, heavily experimental, free-jazz elements ("Balance & Scatter"). Continuing the fiercely DIY ethos adopted by both band and label, Mirror Breathing has been written, recorded and produced in its entirety by Claire Brentnall and Knox in their home studio in the Peak District. The record is both personal and universal; an exploration in sound and songwriting. The music Shield Patterns are making is difficult to place into genres or pigeon-holes. Experimental sounds are married to striking, inventive melodies throughout; it's contemporary pop music of sorts with a richly detailed cosmic edge. Some words from Claire about the album: "The album for me is about feeling connected; exploring what it means to be a friend, to be in love, to be an individual, to be part of a collective unconscious. It's about the beauty of imperfection, of making mistakes, and the discoveries that are made by chance as we learn to exist."
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CD
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GZH 060CD
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Shield Patterns (Claire Brentnall and Richard Knox) follow up their acclaimed (5/5 in The Skinny) 2014 full-length debut Contour Lines (GZH 055CD/LP) with the four-song EP Violet. The Manchester-based creators of dark electronic pop deliver a lovingly crafted progression from Contour Lines. They further their debut's experimentation with samples made from clicking bones, field recordings, heavy drones, and a starker approach to production. On first listen the sound is more minimalistic than that debut album but multiple layers gradually reveal themselves over time. Brentnall's vocals were singled out for particular praise in early reviews and she has refined her vision further here, with her lyrical concerns focusing on the intimacy of bodies ("drip-feeding" and "mouths," for example) and her voice arranged into swirling loops like those that introduce and underpin closer "Monument." This is electronic music that juxtaposes warmth and cold, journeying from industrial to natural, from claustrophobic to expansive.
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LP
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GZH 055LP
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LP version; limited edition on 180 gram vinyl, includes download code. Since their inception in 2012, Claire Brentnall and Richard Knox's project has evolved from solo endeavor to fully-realized duo. Starting with 2013's single The Rule, Shield Patterns have shown a maturity and sophistication beyond their years. Spacious soundscapes are scattered with trembling piano phrases, skittering beats and waves of warm keys, all shaped into dark, menacing pop songs by Brentnall's bewitching vocals. Their two singles thus far have already caught the ear of alt-J and Dutch Uncles, both of whom have provided remixes of those singles. Now comes their debut album. Following on from critically-lauded lead single Dust Hung Heavy, Contour Lines carries the listener deeper into their world. Each track is laden with the kind of dark atmospherics most groups take years to unearth. Here, the fragility of Brentnall's early demos remains, but finds itself imbued with a richness of sound that can only come from studious soul-searching and a cathartic creative process. The vulnerability of her intensely personal lyrics is tempered with highly-processed strings, subby bass-lines, and ambient passages that brood as much as they shimmer. Lines between aesthetic and content are blurred, so that singer and song are intertwined. What's remarkable about Contour Lines is how adept the band are at contracting their landscapes as well as expanding upon them. In the largely instrumental "Present State," abrasive electronics cast a claustrophobic shadow across the listener before releasing their grip in subsequent tracks. "WeYouMe" reinstates the album's meditative pace, as the singer reflects against a ghostly backdrop sprinkled with reverb while, elsewhere, layered clarinets compete with discordant drones in "Charon." Each of the album's elements is laid down with the precision of an architect but delivered with the grace of a dancer. And like any good art, repeated rotations reveal different facets.
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CD
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GZH 055CD
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Since their inception in 2012, Claire Brentnall and Richard Knox's project has evolved from solo endeavor to fully-realized duo. Starting with 2013's single The Rule, Shield Patterns have shown a maturity and sophistication beyond their years. Spacious soundscapes are scattered with trembling piano phrases, skittering beats and waves of warm keys, all shaped into dark, menacing pop songs by Brentnall's bewitching vocals. Their two singles thus far have already caught the ear of alt-J and Dutch Uncles, both of whom have provided remixes of those singles. Now comes their debut album. Following on from critically-lauded lead single Dust Hung Heavy, Contour Lines carries the listener deeper into their world. Each track is laden with the kind of dark atmospherics most groups take years to unearth. Here, the fragility of Brentnall's early demos remains, but finds itself imbued with a richness of sound that can only come from studious soul-searching and a cathartic creative process. The vulnerability of her intensely personal lyrics is tempered with highly-processed strings, subby bass-lines, and ambient passages that brood as much as they shimmer. Lines between aesthetic and content are blurred, so that singer and song are intertwined. What's remarkable about Contour Lines is how adept the band are at contracting their landscapes as well as expanding upon them. In the largely instrumental "Present State," abrasive electronics cast a claustrophobic shadow across the listener before releasing their grip in subsequent tracks. "WeYouMe" reinstates the album's meditative pace, as the singer reflects against a ghostly backdrop sprinkled with reverb while, elsewhere, layered clarinets compete with discordant drones in "Charon." Each of the album's elements is laid down with the precision of an architect but delivered with the grace of a dancer. And like any good art, repeated rotations reveal different facets.
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