Kevin Shields discography

See also: My Bloody Valentine discography

A man performing live on-stage with an acoustic guitar.
Kevin Shields performing with My Bloody Valentine in 1989

Kevin Shields is an Irish musician, singer-songwriter, composer, and producer who has released one collaborative album and scored the film Lost in Translation, in addition to a prolific career as a producer and mixer. He began performing in the late 1970s and formed the Dublin-based punk rock band The Complex with drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig and guitarist Liam Ó Maonlaí. Following Ó Maonlaí's departure, Shields and Ó Cíosóig recruited vocalist David Conway[1] and formed a new band, My Bloody Valentine, in 1983.[2]

After a number of minor mini-album/EPs and singles, the band released their first two full-length studio albums, Isn't Anything (1988) and Loveless (1991)—both of which pioneered an alternative rock subgenre known as shoegazing.[3] During this time, Shields created a guitar technique known as "glide guitar", which includes extensive use of the tremolo arm while strumming[4] and features reverse reverb sourced from his Yamaha SPX90 processing unit.[5]

Following My Bloody Valentine's disbandment in 1997, Shields began a career as a producer and mixer, with a number of artists, including Yo La Tengo, Dinosaur Jr., The Go! Team, The Pastels, Le Volume Courbe and Spacemen 3.[6][7] He contributed guitar and also co-producing to two Primal Scream albums, XTRMNTR (2000) and Evil Heat (2002), and became a touring member of the band between 1996 and 2006. During this time, Shields composed music for the Canadian contemporary dance group La La La Human Steps and recorded four songs for Sofia Coppola's 2003 film Lost in Translation—which earned him nominations for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for Best Film Music,[8] an Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) award for Best Music in a Film,[9] and an Online Film Critics Society award for Best Original Score.[10] In 2008, Shields released The Coral Sea, a collaborative live album with Patti Smith, on which he provided musical accompaniment to Smith's reading of her book of the same name.

  1. ^ McGonial 2007, p. 22.
  2. ^ McGonial 2007, p. 21.
  3. ^ "Shoegaze: Significant Albums, Artists and Songs, Most Viewed". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on 28 June 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  4. ^ Di Perna 1992, p. 26.
  5. ^ Di Perna 1992, p. 152.
  6. ^ "Kevin Shields—Credits". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  7. ^ Breihan, Tom (9 August 2010). "Video: Spacemen 3 Reunited Without Jason Pierce, With Kevin Shields | News". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  8. ^ "Film | Anthony Asquith Award for Original Film Music in 2004". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  9. ^ "Winners 2004 | IFTA". Irish Film and Television Awards. Irish Film and Television Academy. Archived from the original on 21 November 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  10. ^ "2003 Awards (7th Annual)". Online Film Critics Society. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.