Shoun Shoun
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About
Shoun Shoun ('shoon-shoon')
From Berlin / Bristol based unflinching, atmospheric dream pop and art garage rock with the urban ennui of Nico and the noise of Sonic Youth.
Praise for the debut album Monsters & Heroes (released January 2022):
"Annette Berlin’s Bristol quartet Shoun Shoun release an arresting debut album filled with lo-fi lockdown anxiety and raucous tales of bad behaviour." Louder Than War
"It is rare to successfully capture raw creativity and make it sound good" Music News Monthly
"The range on show has no limits for this quartet... This is an album that tilts on the pinpoint of intrigue and innovation, providing mystery in the direction they may take, a new layer is introduced and the sound diverts in an instant to begin the journey again... the perfect breeding ground for a new immense sound" Noizze
"unpredictably surreal and profound with a garage and post-punk feel ... They have combined a vast array of influences to create the exciting and unpredictable journey that is ‘Monster & Heroes’." John's Music Hub
"Album of the week!" Kool Strings Radio
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This is Shoun Shoun:
Annette Berlin (vocals, guitar), Boris Ming (violin, synth, vocals), Ole Rudd (bass) and Giuseppe La Rezza (drums). The four-piece from Bristol emerged with their 2019 EP A Hundred Trips, followed by two standalone singles in lockdown that were championed at Louder Than War. Both of them – the moody, melancholic Refresh & Replay, which were described as “the bastard child of PJ Harvey and Nick Cave”, and the anxiety-filled lockdown anthem Stuck – are included on Monsters & Heroe
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This is Shoun Shoun:
Annette Berlin (vocals, guitar), Boris Ming (violin, synth, vocals), Ole Rudd (bass) and Giuseppe La Rezza (drums). The four-piece from Bristol emerged with their 2019 EP A Hundred Trips, followed by two standalone singles in lockdown that were championed at Louder Than War. Both of them – the moody, melancholic Refresh & Replay, which were described as “the bastard child of PJ Harvey and Nick Cave”, and the anxiety-filled lockdown anthem Stuck – are included on Monsters & Heroe
Perhaps as a result of its lo-fi DIY origins, beginning life in Berlin’s garage and reaching fruition when they were mixed in her loft, it’s a record that fills the listener with a sense of disorientation and discombobulation. It’s like listening while you’re drunk, or stoned (even if you’re neither); the mix makes the instruments swirl with a giddy, dizzy, freewheeling abandon that’s often at odds with conventional production – a trebly blizzard of cymbals creating a kind of analog white noise that sets you on edge.
Shoun Shoun are the sum of their parts: Berlin has spent years battling ferocious noise in Bristol bands like Big Joan, Male, The Final Age and Rose Kemp, but finally felt an uncontrollable urge to connect with music in a more intimate way. The result is a set of songs of alienation, redemption and the emptiness at the end of the party, brought to life by musicians whose collective CV includes other Bristol legends like The Moonflowers, The Fantasy Orchestra, Mooz, Patrick Duff and Chikinki.
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Impressions of our single 'Did I Play Games'
Shoun Shoun are the sum of their parts: Berlin has spent years battling ferocious noise in Bristol bands like Big Joan, Male, The Final Age and Rose Kemp, but finally felt an uncontrollable urge to connect with music in a more intimate way. The result is a set of songs of alienation, redemption and the emptiness at the end of the party, brought to life by musicians whose collective CV includes other Bristol legends like The Moonflowers, The Fantasy Orchestra, Mooz, Patrick Duff and Chikinki.
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Impressions of our single 'Did I Play Games'
Guitars churn. Bass rumbles and drums pound. Hi-hats hiss, creating a storm of sibilance. “I was lying drunk on the floor,” Annette Berlin sings sweetly into the void. “I think somebody was speaking to me.”
It’s the sound of the morning after.
A squall of guitar interrupts her reverie, then fades away as the song lurches onwards. “Don’t know how I got here,” she sings, the music swelling towards its conclusion. “Did I play games? Did I have fun? Please just tell me.” We’ve all been there. It’s quite an opening to Monsters & Heroes, a debut album whose title captures the yin and yang of a record that deals in contradictions: loud and quiet, light and dark, tension and release. Diery fury one moment, sweet seduction the next.
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Their song A Hundred Trips taken from their 2019 EP won the Glastonbury FM Songwriting Competition in 2019.
Their singles Stuck, Much Sweeter and Did I Play Games were championed by the likes of Louder Than War, BBC Radio 6’s Tom Robinson and saw them garner radio play from Canada to Soho.
Say hello here:
Bandcamp
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Soundcloud
Spotify
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Their song A Hundred Trips taken from their 2019 EP won the Glastonbury FM Songwriting Competition in 2019.
Their singles Stuck, Much Sweeter and Did I Play Games were championed by the likes of Louder Than War, BBC Radio 6’s Tom Robinson and saw them garner radio play from Canada to Soho.
Say hello here:
Bandcamp
Soundcloud
Spotify