Biography

Influenced by the lo-fi '90s indie aesthetic of Pavement and Sebadoh and associated with the late-2000s shoegaze revival alongside Banjo or Freakout, Atlas Sound and Big Pink, A Grave with No Name is the musical brainchild of London-based musician Alex Shields. Named after an in-joke that referenced metalcore/emo group As I Lay Dying, Shields began the project in 2006 and recorded half of his 2009 full-length debut Mountain Debris in a church in Stoke Newington, East London. Recruiting bassist Tom King and guitarist Anupa Madawela to flesh out A Grave with No Name's woozy and ethereal pop, the album's resulting hazy, kaleidoscopic sound recalled My Bloody Valentine, Guided by Voices, and the Microphones. A Grave with No Name returned with 2011's Lower, an atmospheric album that spanned two cassettes. For 2013's Whirlpool, the band worked in an actual recording studio for the first time and collaborated with Echo Lake’s Linda Jarvis, Comanechi’s Akiko Matsuura, and Ides’ Alanna McArdle. That year, A Grave with No Name also issued the Poltergeist album -- which featured tape loops, found sounds and drum machines -- as a free download. Shields and company worked with Lambchop's Mark Nevers at his Beech House studio in Nashville on 2015's polished, twangy Feathers Wet, Under the Moon. ~ Aneet Nijjar and Heather Phares, Rovi