On the back of the ongoing success surrounding the release of their first two singles, For The Day and Sending Electricity, Living in Shadows, perhaps best known as the award winning vocalist Zoe Gilby, and multi-instrumentalist Andy Champion, bring forth their eponymously self-titled, debut album.
Featuring eight tacks (seven on the limited edition vinyl), Living in Shadows takes you on a walk through life through the eyes of a musician, well two musicians, but you get the drift.
Having begun working on their current masterpiece back in 2016, Zoe and Andy, whose last major release was their five-track ‘Voice & Bass’ EP in early 2018, are delighted with the response the first two releases from the album, For The Day and Sending Electricity, have received.
Both tracks were granted exclusive, first time airplays courtesy of Nick Roberts and BBC Music Introducing in the North East on BBC Newcastle, and has gained traction on both sides of the Atlantic with media outlets in the United States picking up the Tyneside pairs’ music.
“This album has been four years in the making and what a journey it has been,” began Zoe.
“Writing, recording and producing this body of work has had its challenges but it has also opened up the doors to so much more for us.”
Overall an album relating to transition and movement throughout life, and featuring that of Mark Williams (guitar) and Paul Edis (piano) as well as some special guests, Living in Shadows touches on love and relationships, rebellion, the reflections of a bygone era, and domestic abuse; it’s a journey they’ve taken, and experienced, in some form or other, themselves, at one point or another.
Although they’ve taken this project away from their usual, jazz forte, a genre that has served both musicians very well for a number of years now, you can hear that ‘jazz twang’ within their new sound.
A naturalised transition between that, and the sound in which Living In Shadows portrays, shows Zoe and Andy’s unconscious decision to ‘step away from jazz,’ but the influence does remain.
“We just wanted to make the music that is in our hearts, without concerning ourselves with what pigeon hole it needs to fit into,” continued Zoe.
“This is an exciting new twist in our creative development and we have always collaborated well together, so, with all of these elements added in the mix, it made sense, and it feels right to explore and encourage this natural progression.”
“In coming from a jazz background, but influenced by pop/rock/progressive rock, the inspiration for each of these original compositions has been a varied, mixed bag,” continued Andy, who delights in the fact he’s able to live out a dream of his of performing in a progressive pop/rock styled environment.
“We decided from the off not to concern ourselves as to how to replicate this body of work for our usual standard jazz concerts and wanted to explore so much more with the production element of these tunes.
“We wanted to be able to build the sound and to be able to tell each story and to paint each picture for all of the songs that are on the album and we didn’t hold back, we let the music determine the sound.”
That sound, and that story, is portrayed throughout seven glorious tracks (compact disc includes an eighth, bonus track, Believe) as Zoe and Andy delve into differing realms of possibilities.
It is a release that will take them into the early stages of 2021, one of the tracks, Try To Take It Twice, which revolves around the ongoing presence in society of domestic violence, a follow-up of sorts.
It’s one that will take them out of the shadows, and into the next stage of their future happenings, but for this, Living In Shadows, has, for Zoe and Andy, been: “A really enjoyable, natural, almost organic compositional process.”
The album closes with the lengthy Smoke And Mirrors, a track commissioned by Jazz North East to commemorate their 50th Anniversary in 2016, it is a piece which reflects what Newcastle was like in the 1970s.
The eponymously titled, Living in Shadows album, is due for release on compact disc and digital download on Friday 4 December, with a limited edition vinyl to follow shortly afterwards, physical copies of the album are also available with signed dedications, upon request.
Keep up-to-date with all things Living In Shadows via their social media platforms, on Facebook via https://www.facebook.com/LivingInShadows and Twitter https://twitter.com/L_I_SMusic or via www.livinginshadows.com