The Shore

Sporting a vintage mix of dusky alt-rock, Verve-inspired vocals, and West Coast psychedelia, the Shore emerged from L.A.'s Silverlake district in 2002. Singer/guitarist Ben Ashley had first presented a batch of songs to producer friend Rick Parker, who encouraged Ashley to record demos of the material with local musicians Kyle Mularky (guitar), Cliff Magreta (bass), and John Wilmer (drums). The Shore eventually signed with Maverick Records and issued an introductory EP in 2003, followed by a self-titled LP in August 2004. Although "Hard Road" enjoyed a small amount of radio airplay, the album failed to yield the commercial returns that Maverick Records had expected, and the Shore found themselves without a label when Maverick was dissolved into Warner Music Group shortly thereafter. Ashley responded by returning to the drawing board and sketching out another batch of songs, many of which found their way onto the Shore's independent sophomore release, Light Years. Produced by Rick Parker, the album was released digitally in 2008.