Sometimes you come across a band that completely takes your breath away, stops you in your tracks and reinforces the notion that music is the shorthand of your soul. So for all you music lovers out there, who love to feel every iota, nuance and read every footnote of emotion, then Shadow Flowers is a band that you should really check out. Having already caught the eye of BBC introducing South & West, and performed a number of sell out gigs, Shadow Flowers have been quickly receiving a growing fan base.
Based in Southampton, UK, Shadow Flowers are comprised of Aaron Mills on vocals/guitar (live/album), Adam Tremblay on guitar (live), Patrick White on bass (live/album), Ash Babb on drums (album), Matthew Schmigelsky on drums (live). They are a captivating band, whose textured tones, wispy vocals and sonic soundscape, weathers the storm of alternative rock. Like the cosmic cousin of Mercury Rev, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Cigarettes After Sex, The Velvet Underground and Slowdive, Shadow Flowers are empirical noisemakers, that bend the boundaries, and rework the reverb of experimental rock.
As a frontman, Mills emits an exquisite etherealism that whispers in the misty mayhem and soars amongst the guitar gods. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, and astute songwriter, Mills is the enigma that places the mystique back into music, and the sensuality back into words. Along with the in-house chemistry and overflow of creativity of White and Babb, Shadow Flowers are the pensive dreamers of alternative rock, the translucent troubadours, that bloom in the dark and recharge the neon lights of nihilism.
They are that quintessential guitar band, that interlocks the shimmery strums of shoegaze, with the moon beams of dream pop, whilst reflecting from the murky shadows of garage rock. Along with the descending drones, Shadow Flowers dives into the abyss of noise rock, whilst spinning in a vortex of neo-psychedelica and exploding with a grandiose of baroque rock.
They are sailors of sublimity whose debut album “Blood Book“, transports you directly into the deep oceans of distortion, whilst surfing the waves of illusion. A visceral vessel, Blood Book is a mesmerising masterpiece of submerged sonics, navigating through the tangled tones, hazy hues, and turbulent tides of ethereal wave. Comprised of 10 tracks, Blood Book has been selected as the Manc Review’s Album of the Month, and features their debut single “Paraselene”. An exemplary debut album, Blood Book, shimmers and shivers in the cold waters of shoegaze, whilst dipping its feet in the DNA pool of chamber pop. It’s an enchanting echo of its primeval past, reverberating from the recesses, whilst redefining a new age. Like many of its predecessors of shoegaze, Blood Book stays true to the abstract approach in making music, that filters its emotions through a tirade of tantalising tones and textures.
What’s great about Blood Book is its floaty fluidity, its grandiose of showmanship that elevates and sinks deep into the bioluminescent bass lines of post-punk, that drifts deliriously into the moonlit shores of a pop-punk, art rock, jangly-rock, Brit-pop, alt-country, space-rock, orchestral pop, alt-blues, post-grunge and grunge gaze. It’s pure class, that remasters the faint frontiers of shoegaze revival, that embodies the aerial ambience, mystery, the dark poetry and introspective impressionism that makes an artist a true artist.
Engineered & Co-Produced by: Ian Davenport (Slowdive, Band of Skulls), Shadow Flowers, and Steve Christie (Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke)
Mixed & Mastered by: Peter Fletcher (Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, Snapped Ankles)
Cover Art: Christy Lee Rogers (shot underwater)
Blood Book was released on Friday 7th August 2026 via Bandcamp
Blood Book | Shadow Flowers