Leicester, UK based Neil Hill and his Shopfires project emerged in December 2023 with the single Summer Bruises which drew the attention of Subjangle boss Darrin Lee, the doyen of all things jangly, who offered the outlier Hill the opportunity to release an album. Buoyed by the success of his eponymous debut album, which was released on Subjangle in March 2024, and maybe even beginning to wonder whether the gloriously self-effacing Bandcamp tagline of ‘DIY pop recorded directly into a cheap laptop’ is entirely appropriate, Shopfires returned in July with Holding On To Let Go, again on Subjangle. As Lee himself says, in essence the second album is essentially more of the same, a fact worthy of celebration in the case of this emerging artist. Shopfires truly excel when it moves within the various ambits of beautiful jangly guitar pop in the vein of Brighter, Field Mice, Heavenly or Television Personalities. Often described as cascading, shimmering, rippling, chiming, fluttering, etc., Neil has somehow managed to achieve an accessible sound of harmonious complexity from a single acoustic guitar with the most basic of set ups. Embellished by warm keys and introspective lyrics, Neil has been able to capture an intelligent 80s pop aesthetic in a new and yet familiar way. As if this wasn’t enough, a few days ago Hill released Where We Belong, the first single taken from a forthcoming EP of songs which didn’t make it onto the last album.
It will be fascinating to see where Neil takes Shopfires next. 

This is where we belong/ In the ruins of a life that has gone/ There are no better times/ We’re all done/ it’s over for us

What He Says: “A lot of my lyrics appear fully formed usually as I mumble over the music. As Billy Mackenzie of the Associates once said. ‘I just don’t know where I get my lyrics from. I always know what my words mean even though I can’t explain it. I didn’t understand it and I’ve never analysed it. I thought, well, if that’s all coming from me, that’s OK.‘”

“I guess this is what Shopfires would have sounded like if I’d stuck to my no vocals strategy.“

His Mixtape: 

The Fall – Container Drivers

I could have picked any track really. Ideally I would have chosen to play Hex Enduction Hour in it’s entirety. But Container Drivers ticks all the rockabilly/krautrock boxes for me.

Quivers – Apparition

Universally loved in the Hill house. Golden Doubt is my go to album when my spirit needs lifting. A perfect listen from start to finish. The band get a cheeky namecheck in my song A Lover’s Life is Another’s Life from Holding on to Let Go.

Epic45 – Winterbirds 

Bucolic and innocent. As described by Jude Rogers in 2007: Their ghostly, fingerpicked guitars, sampled found sounds, memories of shoegazery and dusty electronica conjure up old British films and gave the Black Country it’s very own Boards of Canada.

The Chills – Pink Frost

A stone cold classic. For a while in the mid-eighties I was a Flying Nun Records obsessive. The Clean, the Verlaines, the Bats, Sneaky Feelings, et al, and with recent releases from Office Dog, Voom, Mystery Waitress and Ringlets my obsession may well start anew.

The Sea Urchins – Everglades 

A number of key players in the Sea Urchins came from my home town of West Bromwich, UK. It seems astonishing to me that the Sarah Records legacy began with a few teenage musicians who lived just around the corner from where I grew up.

Felt – Red Indians

I had originally conceived Shopfires as an instrumental project. I had been listening to some of the early non-vocal tracks by Felt and I fell back in love with Maurice Deebank’s neo classical pop folk guitar work and foolishly thought I could replicate it without any classical training. 

Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman

A number of my songs have no discernible chorus. Which is the only thing I have in common with this Jimmy Webb penned classic. The greatest unfinished song ever recorded. 

Bogshed – Summer in my Lunchtime 

I wanted to include a band from Ron Johnson Records. A label which contributed 5 songs to the infamous NME C86 tape but barely gets a mention these days. Unfortunately with so many great bands to choose from I couldn’t decide which one to go with so I went with a song by Bogshed who weren’t signed to Ron Johnson but probably should have been.

Where We Belong, taken from a forthcoming EP of songs which didn’t make it onto the last album, is out now. Holding On To Let Go was out in July on Subjangle records. Look HERE for more information on Shopfires.