Southampton-based Shadow Flowers offer an absorbing introduction to their debut album Blood Book with new single ‘Paraselene’, a layered piece of alternative rock that moves between shoegaze, grunge and more atmospheric territory.
The project of songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Mills, working alongside Ash Babb and Patrick White, draws on the weight and texture associated with My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins and Deftones without sounding overly indebted to any one influence. The track has also picked up early airplay from BBC Introducing.
Its title comes from the phenomenon sometimes described as a false moon, where ice crystals refract moonlight to create the appearance of another moon nearby. Mills uses that distorted image as a starting point for examining grief and the unreliable nature of memory.
Recorded with Ian Davenport and mixed and mastered by Peter Fletcher, Blood Book is set to expand considerably on those ideas, incorporating influences ranging from The Cure to the dramatic production of Phil Spector.
With ‘Paraselene’, Shadow Flowers establish a thoughtful identity from the outset. It’s atmospheric guitar music concerned as much with texture, imagery and emotional ambiguity as sheer volume.