Living In Shadows
A unique combination of jazz, prog and alt-rock from North-East five-piece.
Living In Shadows may be a new name to the progressive rock community, but as Prog discovers, chatting with vocalist Zoe Gilby and multi-instrumentalist, Andy Champion, the pair have been playing music together in the North East of England for a fair while.
“We were working together as jazz musicians and had been touring and writing original material,” says Gilby. “But gradually a lot of that material began to diverge from the jazz idiom”.
That became their self-titled debut album, which ploughs a delicate furrow between light jazz and pop textures, but with moments of experimentation such as the nine-minute 'Smoke And Mirrors'. That incarnation of the project was based around a jazz rhythm section of double bass and drums, with prominent electric and acoustic piano. However, lockdown prompted them to move in a rock-oriented direction, propelled by Champion’s love of prog.
“The music I listen to the most is that of the 70s bands,” he says. “Even though I make a living as a jazz bass player, I don't listen to a lot of it. I hear enough when I’m working. So I’m more influenced by bands like Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant and King Crimson. I prefer the 'Discipline' -era with its hint of new wave pop. I really like that texture in our music too.”
The result is 2024's 'Neon Burning', which introduces electric bass, synths, and much rockier guitar in the mix, alongside Gilby’s superb, jazz-inflected vocals and hook-laden melodies. Add in a dose of alt-pop rock, and you have a band combining an eclectic palate of styles into something that sounds like nobody else. No wonder they are having such success getting slots at festivals in 2026, although it helps to be proactive and to have a live band ready and willing to play without worrying too much about financial reward for now, as Gilby comments:
“It’s so important for us to perform our music live, and when we looked at it, we saw that there are all these really amazing-looking festivals, so let’s just approach them to see if we can get on some of their lineups, and a lot of them said yes. But we’re realistic – we’re all on board with the financial element as a relatively new band.”
With the superb 'Neon Burning' under their belts, recorded largely as a two-person studio project, Living In Shadows are now a five-piece for both studio and live work. Guitarist Mark Williams, who guested on both studio albums, is joined by John Bradford on drums, who plays with Gilby in her jazz quartet and finally Ben Lawrence on keyboards, the baby of the band. The next album is mainly written and includes material created by the whole group.
“There are some heavier bits going on,” teases Champion, “It’s not exactly prog metal, but there’s a proper riff in one of the songs. We’ve started playing it live, alongside one of the other new songs we’ve been working on. They are both 10 minutes long, which is very prog.”
- Stephen Lambe
Prog file
LINE UP: Zoe Gilby (vocals), Andy Champion (bass, synths, guitar, vocals), Mark Williams (guitar), Ben Lawrence (keyboards), John Bradford (drums)
SOUNDS LIKE: King Crimson meet I Am The Morning in a jazz club
CURRENT RELEASE: 'Neon Burning' is out now via Music | Living In Shadows
WEBSITE: Living In Shadows