A Grave With No Name - And We Parted Ways At Mt Jade

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Business Lady on Thu 16 Jul, 2009.

A grave with no name have a nice new seven inch E.P out containing the following lovely tracks; 'And we parted ways at Mt.Jade'/'Ghosts and Stones'/'The passing of a day (interlude)'/'Stone Setting'/'Horses'. A grave with no name is the guise of Alex Shields who is responsible for the writing, recording and production of this top release, he's obviously got skills yo! The music is a suave mix of Jesus & Mary Chain, Atlas Sounds and Animal Collective. Shield's vocal is totally washy and spaced and the music perfectly compliments his style. Careful use of acoustic guitar, reverb and synthesizer ambience help create a ghostly atmosphere that will no doubt appeal to folks enjoying the recent resurgence in shoe-gazer-esq material passing through the Norman Records Emporium of late. The press release mentions grunge and Nirvana but i don't hear it at all. So yeah, ignore the press release and listen to me.

London's A Grave With No Name peer back into the mists of all that stuff they barely remember and find dreamy grunge songs that feel more like two-minute salvia hallucinations, 27-year-old frontman Alex Shields floating his voice up to contend with the splattered chaos of memory and his own backing track. Beautiful voices entwine with processed beats, white noise and lost melodies. Sometimes slacker and stoned, they're equally influenced by the organic sample strewn sound of Animal Collective, the distorted melodies of Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine and the DIY spirit of the Replacements.

Their first release was a self released split cassette with Natural Numbers, a 13 year old prodigy from Indiana, US. Since then they've supported El Guincho, Atlas Sound and These New Puritans at shows around London, whilst recording a debut EP in their bedroom studio. In April they are supporting the Big Pink on their UK tour and appear on the No Pain In Pop compilation, and have plans for an EP release on Popular Records in May.

PRESS QUOTES:

"A Grave With No Name tap into the subconscious of the zeitgeist. It's an exploratory hiking trip to find that place where Animal Collective, Salem and the Jesus & Mary Chain sit round a campfire making toast. Dazed may have featured them already, but I think they're so good they deserve another mention".
John Kennedy Xfm / Dazed and Confused

"Searching, distorted, bedroom-recorded songs with haunting falsetto vocals and a grunge spirit bring to mind Atlas Sound or Panda Bear, though it's bands like HEALTH and Meat Puppets that have soldered these three Londoners together. Their captivating melodies, occasionally vanishing into noise, were all recorded on a £25 eight track that has long lost the power of fast-forward."
Dazed and Confused

"The merits of nostalgic pop music have long been bones for critical contention, but the time seems to have come for the nineties to adopt the wistful glow that attracts so many weary moths. London's A Grave With No Name peer back into the mists of all that stuff they barely remember and find dreamy grunge-pop songs that feel more like two-minute salvia hallucinations, 27-year-old frontman Alex Shields floating his voice up to contend with the splattered chaos of memory and his own backing track. Recently they’ve taken their broken bedroom 8-track sounds out into London’s live dens, bassist Tom King and guitarist Anupa Madawela joining for shows with Atlas Sound, These New Puritans and El Guincho."
RCB LBL

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