With an intimacy rarely heard in electronic music, Simon Shackleton’s new artist album ‘The Shadowmaker’ marks a bold new chapter for the award-winning producer. Transcending traditional genre boundaries, this daring evolution in Shackleton’s sound is a completely absorbing, almost haunting work. We’ve enjoyed a sneaky listen and can reveal that the pace is glacial and the mood lamenting, each track enveloped in a cinematic sensibility that distinguishes Shackleton from his peers. With the album primed for a 2025 release, early tastemakers are detecting hints of Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, Pink Floyd and Bowie – high praise indeed as Shackleton fearlessly defies convention.
Ahead of the album release, first single and title track ‘The Shadowmaker’ – out now on these platforms – introduces Simon Shackleton’s new era as a post-rock singer-songwriter where electronics, acoustics and his own vocals all collide. Eerie and ethereal, it’s a low-fi hymn centered around tender piano notes and filtered vocals. Brilliantly unsettling, this noir late-night lullaby has an ominous sense of creeping darkness. Lurching bass notes are fizzy and fuzzy while curious keys fall like watery droplets. This icy world of sound comes alive with Shackleton’s sneering vocals, his poetic lyrics landing with cutting clarity. Shackleton’s voice is crisply articulated, a beguiling mix of Thom Yorke’s demonic angel and the haunting baritone of David Bowie.
The Bowie Effect
In fact, a Bowie philosophy provided inspiration for Shackleton’s artistic shift. Simon explains: “It was David Bowie who said, ‘If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area’. Stepping away from the relative safety of making functional dancefloor music allows me to lean into vulnerability and express more of myself than ever before. I believe ‘The Shadowmaker’ songs have a depth and intimacy that will resonate with people in a more profound way, and now that I’m fully focused on sharing them with the world, I’d mostly be letting myself down if I didn’t.”
Calling this new artistic freedom “liberating”, Simon adds: “A lot of self-imposed creative restrictions and limitations have been lifted. I’m now able to use every part of my creativity to craft very personal and meaningful music. The handbrake is well and truly off.”
Emotional Complexity
Fans of the dark, foreboding melancholy of trip-hop greats like Tricky and Massive Attack will find plenty to love with this first single from the soon-to-come album, as the British producer bravely delves into the realm of deep emotional complexity. While ‘The Shadowmaker’ is a far cry from Simon Shackleton’s rave-ready breaks as Elite Force, it lands with the same devastating effect.
