While B-MOVIE released an album comprised of lost and unreleased material titled ‘Hidden Treasures’ last year, a long player of new material has been conspicuous by its absence, the most recent being ‘Climate of Fear’ in 2016.

The band’s two constants Steve Hovington and Paul Statham have been busy though; the latter has continued with his “dark country” project THE DARK FLOWERS featuring The Anchoress, Gabriella Cilmi and Jim Kerr from SIMPLE MINDS but the former has been working with Roger Lyons of the big-beat act LIONROCK on the more post-punk GREY DISCO. Fusing a rock DNA with modern electronic textures, GREY DISCO attempt to balance grit and elegance on ‘Shades’ to make ”music for late nights, empty streets, dim lights or crowded rooms—equally suited to headphones or the dancefloor.”

Announcing that the album is “a soundtrack for the night with low-burning guitars and electronics”, opener ‘Vigil’ rocks with prominent bass guitar, synth and bombastic drums. But taking on a more throbbing backbone, the excellent ‘Paris’ is less aggressive and has the air of PET SHOP BOYS; but for Hovington’s growl, it is something of a “Princess Stéphanie” song and is appropriately in keeping with the GREY DISCO moniker.

‘Fool’s Paradise’ recalls filmic Britpop hopefuls RIALTO while ‘Just Wanna’ is much darker with sombre synthbass. The minimal goth of ‘Shadow Of A Dream’ possesses an intriguing mechanical mystery but the remainder of the album contains either frantic guitar tracks like ‘Renaissance Man’ and ‘World Inaction’ or intense linear set pieces like ‘The Wheel of Misfortune’.

‘Shades’ is more than likely to connect with B-MOVIE fans thanks to Steve Hovington’s angst-ridden instinct for melody and lyrical imagery, while Roger Lyons’ rhythmic sonic twists are a diversion from the proggier keyboard interventions associated with the band. Very much rooted in post-punk  with the benefit of 45 years hindsight, GREY DISCO will fit nicely in the interim until there’s a new B-MOVIE album.

‘Shades’ is released on 8th May 2026, available as a CD and download from https://greydisco.bandcamp.com/album/shades

https://www.instagram.com/grey.disco

Text by Chi Ming Lai
6th May 2026