Shape Of The Shape Reviews
"If The Old Grey Whistle Test could ever return to our screens, Starless & Bible Black would be the house band.russet coloured portraits of '70s folk rock, bleached and spacey." Music OMH
"The record is so intimate you can feel it's breath on your cheek – subtle, moving and powerful. This could go head to head with Cate Le Bon for the award of best gothic folk album of the year." Art Rocker
"Singer Helene Gautier channels Sandy Denny over Cortez The Killer period Neil Young. Like a haunted stroll across the moor.the more mind blown fringes suit them well." Mojo
"A confident striding into different pastures, combining very different styles into compelling interplays. A majestically effortless mix of folk, country rock and hippy psychedelia. You may well be in love." Bearded Magazine
"Heavenly vocals, immaculate chords and fabulous songs, all eight of them on the verge of an evergreen status." Penny Black Music
"This melding of talents is essentially timeless and it demands attention; this is a record to be savoured on those dark winter's evenings." Music Fix
"It is indulgent, it is hedonistic, it is bacchanalian, it is beautifulan exceptional album." Americana UK
"Heavyweight in quality but fluid and expansive in execution, Shape Of The Shape is epically beautiful." Wears The Trousers
"Moving effortlessly between jazz, rock, country and cosmic indie vibes. Quite simply stunning." Selby Times
"Starry, atmospheric elements that build into insistent, unshakable songs. It's hard to imagine we'll hear a more rewarding modern folk rock oriented album than this one for quite a while." Dusty Groove
"A gorgeous voice, filling the spaces between exquisite guitar arpeggios, spindly riffs, brief and fluid solo passages, and the occasional power chord with analog-synth parts that alternate from spaced-out to warmly gurgling." Chicago Reader
Debut Album Reviews
"Full-blooded revivalists of bold 70's folk rock eclecticism……from bare acoustic ballads to Pentangle style rambling and bitter sweet harmonies…… stamping their own personality on their material." Wire Magazine
"This Manchester-based group is responsible for one of the year's best folkie songs" New York Times
"… songs informed by Appalachian folk, downtempo jazz, Middle English pastoralism, and smoky continental balladry. They perform each of their stylistic shifts with an effortless agility, resulting in a collection that captivates primarily through its graceful, almost nonchalant simplicity." Pitchfork
"Folk strains, art songs, and electronic atmospherics combine for a beguiling blend in the debut by this Manchester band." Amazon.com
"Starless and Bible Black's music feels absolutely effortless, born out of thin air. It's like Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval singing through a curtain of opium smoke and fireflies, only a whole lot more awesome." Harp Magazine
"Starless engage the tropes of antique folk and folk revival through a rigorously formal songwriting approach the green, reserved air of the heath and the Arctic Circle, serious and hard." Dusted Magazine
"Those songs are built like trellises: finger-picked guitar, banjo, glockenspiel, winds, and brushed skins augmented by carefully placed electronic glitches and synth washes. Gautier can sound wraith-like or husky, like Francoiz Breut channeling Sandy Denny." Allmusic .com
" What really sets Starless apart from the average acoustic-based warblers are Helene Gautier's vocals, notably her airy high notes, throaty alto and French (her native tongue)-via-Manchester accent." CMJ
"Starless & Bible Black se permettent même d'errer vers des teintes plus sombres et gothiques comme seuls le Velvet Underground ou Nico savaient en apposer sur les murs de leur cave." Rock & Folk Magazine, France
"Le groupe publie en cette fin d'année un album se situant dans la droite lignée des ambiances de Sixteen Horsepower, Led Zeppelin (lorsque Jimmy page et ses acolytes avaient opéré un retour aux sources folk), voire des maîtres Nick Drake ou Bert Jansch." Popnews, France
"This apparent bouquet of contrasts is the sonic essence of Starless & Bible Black, a blissful, down-tempo conundrum that maintains a pastoral presence" Glide Magazine
"Distilled sunlight, perfume bottles on an aunt's dresser, driving south, unplanned friends' jams, certain bookstores on cold afternoons, and the raking of leaves." Poly Revenge
