The Shimmer Band - Jacknife & The Death Call

Here's a band we've been following for quite a while but haven't had the chance to write about on the blog to date, although if you follow our bi-monthly Spotify playlists, you'll have come across them a few times.

Bristol group The Shimmer Band first came to our attention last summer after hearing their song "Freedom", a song that contains everything we love about about early 90s British indie in one easy-to-swallow single, on Steve Lamacq's show on BBC 6music. We also liked "Sunkick" which they released at the tail-end of last year. Although it didn't have the same immediate impact as "Freedom", it showed the band relying less upon paying homage to the past, and more towards carving out their own sound.

This leads us nicely onto their latest single, "Jacknife & The Death Call", a song that combines the immediacy of the former with the more personalized sound of the latter. It's a heavy electro-rock indie track, with elements of hip-hop production, which calls to mind the sound of Kasabian, Does It Offend You, Yeah?,  and perhaps most surprisingly to these ears, a more fuzzy, darker, frenzied version of Elbow's "Grounds For Divorce". They're on tour with hotly tipped mischief-makers Cabbage at the moment, so the future does look bright for The Shimmer Band.

"Jacknife & The Death Call" is out now.