It was back in 2012, three pale young men, all dressed up in black, emerged from an old underground air-raid shelter in Copenhagen to bring to the world their self-titled debut EP, Shiny Darkly. Escaping from their cavernous space like little vampires on a breath of discordant guitars, they sucked into the mainline of new wave and post punk, feeding on the legacy of bands like Joy Division and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
As a precursor to Little Earth, they went on to release the Dead Stars EP all on the fiercely independent label Crunchy Frog (also home to bands such as The Raveonettes, Junior Senior, 18th Dye, PowerSolo and many more).
The UK was given the first real glimpse of the debut album late last year, as the single ‘Soft Skin’ was released, combining doom-laden guitar stabs and synth drones with a chorus so catchy it was guaranteed to haunt your dreams, before collapsing into a blood-curdling black hole of angst-ridden electric noise.
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Now, Little Earth is finally set for UK release. Building on the raw, punky energy of the EP’s, it breaks new land as the band ventures into a sonic landscape of more expansive and atmospheric textures. Thus, the album moves between organic noisy post punk melodies and epic ballads. It is simultaneously melodic, chaotic and frayed at the edges, evoking a rare blend of icy ferocity and high octane sex appeal. In the words of UK blog The Line of Best Fit: ”Dark intensity of this calibre is a rare thing: Savages‘ Jehnny Beth has it, Nick Cave has it, Suicide have it and based on the evidence we’ve heard so far, Shiny Darkly’s Kristoffer Bech certainly has it.”
Shiny Darkly are Kristoffer Bech (vocals and guitar), Mads Lassen (drums) and Oliver Matthew Volz (bass guitar). These three fine, young gentlemen, still in their early twenties, have played at SxSW, CMW, Roskilde Festival, Iceland Airwaves, Reeperbahn, Eurosonic, Liverpool Sound City and The Great Escape, plus a multitude of venues, injecting their haunting sound into the dark heart of the new wave of Nordic Noir music.
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