aaamusic | On 17, Oct 2011

It takes one listen to London based trio Shield Your Eyes to understand how they are one of the most misunderstood unsigned bands in Britain. Their melting pot of time signatures, styles and structures can lead to the easy judgement that they are yet another post hardcore band riding the Biffy Clyro boom all the way to the bank but a closer listen, nay, even a cursory listen can tell anyone that they are a lot more complex, unique and straight up exciting than that. Their website says it’s “A Kind of rattled out progressive blues”, which is a lot closer to what it actually is, but even then it undersells them.

 

Take opening track “larkspur”, it’s completely batshit mental from start to finish but in several different ways, it opens with squalling guitar noise, into a noisy, full steam ahead punk intro then relaxes into a gentle, but not less complex, jazz-inflected breather. That’s in the first 25 seconds bear in mind. But one of the most wonderful things about this record is how it doesn’t sacrifice melody for weird time signatures and jazz inspired guitar playing for the sake of it. “larkspur” is… not catchy but very, very melodic, with the best use of slide guitar since Jack White last went to town on some poor electric. And it’s not the only example on the record either, “tryna lean a ladder up against the wind” is another melodic number in ways this reviewer didn’t think possible. Notice how I’m not giving comparisons to other artists as reference points, that’s because I straight up can’t think of anyone to compare it to, that may be because I’m not as open minded as I like to think I am when it comes to music but mainly it’s because very, very few people have sounded like this in general. If you put a gun to my head I would say it sounds like mid seventies prog but fresh, melodic and very, very raw.

 

And that last part is one of the great things about the record, it sounds raw, unproduced and quite cheap in points, but all this does is emphasise the startling musicianship on show, and while singer Stefan’s hyperactive yowl might sail off key a few too many times for some, to me all it does it accentuate how much of a truly DIY project this is, more punk rock than the vast majority of current punk bands, more rock and roll than most current rock bands, and just straight up better than most bands around at present. Do yourself a favour, dear reader, and check these guys out

 

Will Howard