Shineback: Hunt for buried sonic treasures

Dial, the second album from progressive electronic rock project Shineback, will be released in September. Five years ago the release of Shineback’s first album Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed was released. Its ground-breaking style, incorporating elements of rock, pop and EDM in a heady fusion of styles was widely acclaimed on its launch, with one commentator describing it as «possibly the most progressive album ever».

Unlike its predecessor, Dial has no central story linking the songs, though the theme of communication provides a thread through the album. «We humans do a marvellous job of failing to communicate with one another, often when it matters most», says Shineback main man Simon Godfrey. «All the songs on Dial carry that as an underlying theme. Musically, very much like the debut album and last year’s Minotaur EP, the new record seeks to hop the fences between genres, just to enjoy the process of getting dirty while in the hunt for buried sonic treasures».

Alongside Simon Godfrey regular writing partner (and label mate) Robert Ramsay, guests returning from Rise Up Forgotten… include Matt Stevens (The Fierce & The Dead), Dec Burke (Frost, Darwin’s Radio), Hywel Bennett (Dec Burke Band) and Henry Rogers (Touchstone, Mostly Autumn). New collaborators Tom Slatter, Daniel Zambas (We Are Kin) and Simon’s bandmates in Valdez Joe Cardillo and Tom Hyatt.

The last five years have been a whirlwind of activity for Simon Godfrey, the creative force behind Shineback. Since releasing Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed in 2013, Simon has married, moved from Streatham to Philadelphia, released a solo album, Motherland, under his own name as well as three instalments of the digital Black Bag Archive series, as well as forming the well-respected rock band Valdez.

Originally emerging from the neo-prog scene of the late Eighties, Godfrey made the switch from drums to guitar and vocals to become part of Tinyfish, one of the mainstays of the progressive music scene in the South East of England in the early part of the twenty-first century. Simon Godfrey has become recognised as one of the most distinctive and highly acclaimed songwriters of his generation. His projects cut through genre boundaries, veering wildly from acoustic introspection through power pop rock with Valdez to full-on electronic rock experimentation with Shineback.

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