Yv Shells

Name, where are you from?
Yv Shells, I’m from Walworth, South London.

Describe your style in three words?
Effortless, contemporary, considered.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
TURNSTILE at The Roundhouse. The energy was incredible. You could tell they left all of themselves on the stage and I’m in love with their album 'GLOW ON'. It was such a moment for me I tried to get tickets to see them the following day at Kentish Town haha.

If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?
Portico Quartet because I saw them live once and it’s truly the best gig I’ve ever been to. Nothing has been more mesmerising. If I could I would make a whole album with them. I think their music is so powerful. Joy Division because I want to see 'Unknown Pleasures' live. It was a truly pivotal album in my life. I don’t think I’ll ever stop resonating with it.

Which subcultures have influenced you?
Grime and garage definitely. Growing up in South London and hearing people that sounded like me being blasted from speakers all over Aylesbury Estate when I was so used to hearing American accents in music by black people was definitely mad. I even became a grime DJ for a bit. I also used to DJ footwork. My friend Sherelle gave me bare of her tunes at the beginning and I think both grime and footwork have this mad ability to ingest other genres and make them sound grimey or like footwork. I try and do that with my music. I feel like my genre is Yv Shells haha. Whilst being depressed in my early twenties, I got really into post-punk, soul, jazz and folk music. They’re all really raw lyrical, musically sound and f*cking emotional, which I try to infuse into the music I make. I mainly listened to reggae/dub and country music when I was a child because my mum was heavy into reggae and country music. She had a very odd set of cassette tapes. I think I mash all of these things together in my music.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
If they have to be dead then Albert Einstein fam that guy was on a mad one and he also played violin so we could get him on a track still. If they can be alive then Neil deGrasse Tyson. I’m really into physics at the moment and I just wanna be friends with a physicist.

Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?
My first ever show at Soho House’s Tea Building Studio was really special to me because I organised it myself and all my friends came down. It went better than I could have imagined and it made me realise that making music was definitely a path I had to explore.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
I actually have two! Jasmine Srih, who is a manager and runs the label NEVER SEVEN, who are pushing a really diverse set of artists. She works with artists Ojerime, George Riley and Tygapaw. Secondly, I’d say DJ Nooriyah, who is pushing the sounds of Western Asia and North Africa in the UK and beyond... she’s working on some really cool stuff including her Middle of Nowhere party, which brings together unlikely genres. The last one was a mix of Arabic and reggaeton. Keep an eye out for what she’s got coming up!

YV Shells recently released his new track 'LOSS'. Listen, purchase or stream it via music.yvshells.com/loss.