Who Are They?
Is Shepard are Is Shepard is Is Shepard: A Newcastle based, bluesy/rocky three piece sweet. If you’ll cast your mind back all the way to June, we actually introduced this lot to you following the arrival of their ingeniously packaged CD dropped through our letter box. Masquerading as a full on birth certificate and sonogram, their Songs For Sons EP not only caught our eye, but was more than pleasing on the old ear holes.

Since then, the trio have laboured away (I’m hilarious) tirelessly and are on the cusp of unleashing even more noisy newborns on us all. Which we’ll get to further down.

Why We Liked It?
Well, it’s an utterly gorgeous little amalgamation of blues, soul, dark laboured riffs, menacing drumming and whiskey-soaked vocals that echoes elements of national mind-blowers The Bookhouse Boys, and even regional rabble rousers Chased By Wolves.

You know that scene in the Matrix where Neo and Trinity have a shoot-out in the lobbly? Well, imagine if after he set the security alarm off he opened his trenchcoat and there was reverb inside instead of guns. That’s this song.

In an age of dime a dozen, prancing, preening pop pratts, this is delightfully gritty diversion that gets foots nodding and heads tapping with all the gusto of a nervous suspect in a murder trial. I’m not the first person to slap the David Lynch sticker straight on to their foreheads, but it’s one that in its rhythm and feel, is impossible to ignore.

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Twanging Elvis/ Chris Isaaks style guitar introduces this brooding classic, cautionary folk tale translated into bluesy rock and roll, retaining its minor key reflection, atmospheric intonation and clean melodic lines but adding effective touches of electronic colouration, spooky, shivering guitars to illustrate a modern day folk tale.

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There’s a dark country road vibe to Pine Box, like it might take you into the woods and do unspeakable things to you. A rumbling blues backbone powers the track through its four shady minutes, as it bashes at chords and hammers your ears with sinister, deep-south-infused double bass. Bitter and knowing, it’s a rousing, rhythmic nightmare of raging proportions. It sits happily in the teeny tiny centre of the rock and roll/folk/country Venn diagram, where honesty and rebellion make scarce and excellent songs.

Written by Nic Wright

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‘Pine Box’ is the debut single from Newcastle-based alt-rock band Is Shepherd and is taken from their EP ‘Songs For Suns’ that was released this summer to wide-ranging critical acclaim, and as debuts go it’s pretty damn good with the group drawing on a kaleidoscope of influences to produce a uniquely alchemic track.

‘Pine Box’ sees a confident, fresh group that, having gigged extensively throughout their local environ, is impressively tight and displays a knack for matching the brooding vocals and storytelling style of Nick Cave with the energetic indie-rock dynamism of The Libertines. There is also a stain of warbling melancholia a la Florence Welch in the vocals lending ‘Pine Box’ added emotional depth bordering on the melodramatic.

The single is carefully constructed with vocalist Ben Trenerry leading from the front with a voice that could fill a stadium and backing in the shape of kinetic blues/rock/indie guitar and double bass the potentially chaotic combination of which is kept in check by a relentless rolling drum beat.

In addition to the lo-fi garage rock on display here there is an interesting structural element that sees Trenerry whispering his words against stark instrumentation in the middle-eight after which the single’s blues funk kicks back in slowly building to a satisfying crescendo that allows Trenerry to let rip before it all goes quiet leaving the listener reaching for the play button.

Guy Waddington

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