Shields - New Waves

Can someone please take us to the north east of England? For it seems to this south coast based music blog that Newcastle and its environs possess a thriving music scene that continues to push out band after band that consistently hit the mark. Last year two of our top 5 albums were from Northumbrian bands – The Unthanks (our no.1) and Lanterns On The Lake (our no.5) and this corner of the internet has found us gushing in adoration about the likes of Let’s Buy Happiness and Polarsets quite regularly.

Today we introduce our latest Geordie joy. Although we’re a little confused as their Soundcloud suggests that Shields are from London, but their Facebook says Newcastle. Ultimately though geography is irrelevant, it’s all about what hits your ears. In this case what Shields do and make is spiky melodic indie that’s punchy, direct and peppered with toe tapping tunefulness.

Three of this five-piece met at college whilst studying popular and contemporary music and they’ve obviously learnt their trade well. In fact it could be easy to accuse them of having studied the danceable guitar band textbook a little too closely. There’s a whiff of the po-going energy of Two Door Cinema Club about them and on forthcoming single All I Know the vocal hints at Miike Snow’s Animal. Somebody throw a remix at them and we could easily imagine one of their songs sitting on one of those Kitsune Compilations.

Having recorded their first demos in the spring of 2011, the band has worked with Adrian Bushby who has previous credits with the likes of Foo Fighters, Muse, U2 and the aforementioned Two Door Cinema Club and will be spreading their wings this year with a number of gigs including shows at Liverpool’s Sound City, Brighton’s Great Escape and Live at Leeds. In terms of jaunty and restless guitar based pop, Shields have got it covered. Now, when’s the next flight to Newcastle?

Shields - All I Know

Shields - Spires (Video)