Silhouette

Video Interview with Essex Chronicle
Fresh from her performance on the Futures Stage at this year's V-Festival we caught up with Northern Irish singer Shauna Tohill from band Silhouette.

"It was such good fun, really amazing, it was amazing to to see how the crowd grew," said Shauna.

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Silhouette on stage

"This is only our second ever performance in England and my first time ever at V-Festival."


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Now working with the band full-time writing many of their songs Shauna was keen for the fans to focus on the music, rather than herself.

"I didn't want to use my own name for the band as that seemed a little egotistical, I thought if I came up with something more mysterious it would invite people to love the music rather than the band."

The group hopes to release its next single in November this year followed by a UK tour. - Essex Chronicle

Shauna Tohill, better known as Silhouette, has finally pieced together her much-anticipated début EP entitled ‘Can’t Keep Up.’ Following outstanding feedback for her début single of the same title – the featured track from Discover Northern Ireland’s TV campaign, expectations are high for Shauna and her band from Magherafelt, Londonderry.

Due for release at the end of May, Tohill is aided by a circle of musicians and like-minded artists; generating a strong and polished vision. The EP launches into a refurbished version of the track she is most associated with, Can’t Keep Up.

Triumphant brass and intricate strings are prevalent in place of choppy guitars; paired alongside a darker tempo than the original (also on the EP as a bonus track) and at times, a syncopated vocal from Trohill. This pays homage to the original with some teasers of what is to come from the multi-instrumentalist and is an interesting and welcome rethink of the song. Ultimately, the hooks just can’t be argued with.

A racing chorus cracks the whip at the beginning of Toss It Up before nestling gently into a verse that displays real ability. Trohill’s voice is entirely at home, deploying a variety of styles and jarring them together with her name scrolled on the lid.

Acoustic track Put The Silence On Hold takes the softer route to the listeners’ hearts, and Trohill delivers a gem of a pop song resembling the mood of many teenage girls across the globe in the process. She claims her focus is to “inspire, touch and mend the hearts” of those who listen; how very typical – a cynic would agree. But, the production quality is immense and the song possesses the ability to rumble hindsight.

Running Against The Wall is an builds tension and hits the mark with the combined rawness of the guitar and piano. Electronic beats incorporate a fresh rhythm and it becomes increasingly clear that Trohill is just as accurate with the darker side of writing as she is with the light. The climax at the song’s is difficult to absorb yet fascinating to the ear.

Easily one of the most Shazamed acts our isle has produced, Silhouette looks set to build on her initial success with a quality début EP and affirm herself as one of Ireland’s leading talents. Watch this space. - GoldPlec

Shauna Tohill

Magherafelt songstress. Under the guise Silhouette, her track Can't Keep Up featured on the Northern Ireland Tourist Board's TV campaign. She has toured with Snow Patrol and duetted with Gary Lightbody on Set The Fire To The Third Bar. - Belfast Telegraph

For the last year or so, the careening, fiendishly catchy single 'Can't Keep Up' by Silhouette has been soundtracking the Discover Northern Ireland TV ad campaign, provoking people from all walks of life to hum, clap and air drum along to the driving rhythm and hook.

The track was a massive mainstream breakthrough for the Magherafelt-born, but Belfast-based, Shauna Tohill. Having spent the past five years performing with the likes of Angelfall, Poet's Pocket Symphony, Rams' Pocket Radio and Joe Echo, the multi-instrumentalist has certainly deserved her shot as a solo artist. In May 2013, she releases her long-awaited Can't Keep Up EP.



Aided and abetted as always with a revolving cast of musicians, friends and like-minded artists, Tohill's vision circa 2013 is assured, stately, grandiose and grown up. Comprising four tracks, the mini-opus sees Silhouette at the peak of her powers. It is every bit as good as, if not better than, the sublime piece of alt-pop that was her first single, 'Volume Destroyed', with Tohill truly blossoming as a frontwoman and creative force.

The EP opens with a re-worked, re-imagined version of 'Can't Keep Up' (the video above is a former version), it having been dissected and unravelled then stitched back together. Now it features a slower, more moody tempo, some suitably triumphant trumpets and swelling strings. Less manic and jittery than version 1.0 (which is included on the EP as a bonus track), this altered incarnation of her best-known song offers some new flavours to the Silhouette sound.

'Toss It Up' starts with a stark strummed acoustic guitar, before kicking in to a chiming chorus which, strange as it may sound, calls to mind the refrain from Papa Roach's 'Getting Away With Murder', only faster and with a pop polish. It develops into a piano-based number, which has an ace mid-section that's reminiscent of some of the mellower moments on the Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.

'Put The Silence On Hold' is the real star of the show, however, an unflinchingly emotive ballad that in an ideal world will establish Silhouette on the global stage. It's the type of track that seems destined to have a huge cross-over appeal, a starry-eyed, tear-stained track that boasts a beautiful vocal full of passion and purity. Possibly Silhouette's best musical moment to date, it taps a similar vein to some of Snow Patrol's more anthemic songs, and is worth the price of admission alone.

'Running Against The Wall' finishes the EP in dark fashion, with drum loops, electric guitars and a more aggressive vocal style the order of the day. If there are any criticisms to be made, it's that Can't Keep Up is over all too soon. An extra song certainly wouldn't have gone amiss. However, with cuts like 'Put The Silence On Hold' in their arsenal, Silhouette are sure to cast a large shadow on the Northern Ireland music scene this year. I can't wait to hear a full album. - Edwin McFee

Shauna Tohill’s Silhouette haven’t played a show in Belfast in over seven months so it is nice to see a decent turnout in the Stiff Kitten. ‘Running Against the Wall’ sets us off with Shauna springing all over the stage with a look of glee plastered on her face. ‘Rip Up My Heart’ (the B-side to Can’t Keep Up) has an unexpected heavy intro that goes very much against their normal pop sensibilities and this may seem like a lazy comparison but it has a hint of Hayley Williams and Paramore about it. Highlight of the evening is ‘Toss It Up,’ ridiculously catchy and in my humble opinion the best song Silhouette have offered us to date. It is the perfect example of Shauna’s maturing song writing ability. Her on stage energy is electric and undoubtedly it helps that she is surrounded by some talented friends as she encourages us to sing-along. ‘Put the Silence on Hold’ is “made for ballroom dancing” according to Shauna, and it seems a shame that no-one partakes as this track off their debut EP shines. Naturally the set finishes with the ever present ‘Can’t Keep Up,’ and it seems that we still haven’t grown sick of it, as roars of “I Can’t Keep Up” drift off into the Belfast night. - Chordblossom Blog

Double Page Spread - Out There (Belfast Telegraph)

For the last year or so, the careening, fiendishly catchy single 'Can't Keep Up' by Silhouette has been soundtracking the Discover Northern Ireland TV ad campaign, provoking people from all walks of life to hum, clap and air drum along to the driving rhythm and hook.

The track was a massive mainstream breakthrough for the Magherafelt-born, but Belfast-based, Shauna Tohill. Having spent the past five years performing with the likes of Angelfall, Poet's Pocket Symphony, Rams' Pocket Radio and Joe Echo, the multi-instrumentalist has certainly deserved her shot as a solo artist. In May 2013, she releases her long-awaited Can't Keep Up EP.



Aided and abetted as always with a revolving cast of musicians, friends and like-minded artists, Tohill's vision circa 2013 is assured, stately, grandiose and grown up. Comprising four tracks, the mini-opus sees Silhouette at the peak of her powers. It is every bit as good as, if not better than, the sublime piece of alt-pop that was her first single, 'Volume Destroyed', with Tohill truly blossoming as a frontwoman and creative force.

The EP opens with a re-worked, re-imagined version of 'Can't Keep Up' (the video above is a former version), it having been dissected and unravelled then stitched back together. Now it features a slower, more moody tempo, some suitably triumphant trumpets and swelling strings. Less manic and jittery than version 1.0 (which is included on the EP as a bonus track), this altered incarnation of her best-known song offers some new flavours to the Silhouette sound.

'Toss It Up' starts with a stark strummed acoustic guitar, before kicking in to a chiming chorus which, strange as it may sound, calls to mind the refrain from Papa Roach's 'Getting Away With Murder', only faster and with a pop polish. It develops into a piano-based number, which has an ace mid-section that's reminiscent of some of the mellower moments on the Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.

'Put The Silence On Hold' is the real star of the show, however, an unflinchingly emotive ballad that in an ideal world will establish Silhouette on the global stage. It's the type of track that seems destined to have a huge cross-over appeal, a starry-eyed, tear-stained track that boasts a beautiful vocal full of passion and purity. Possibly Silhouette's best musical moment to date, it taps a similar vein to some of Snow Patrol's more anthemic songs, and is worth the price of admission alone.

'Running Against The Wall' finishes the EP in dark fashion, with drum loops, electric guitars and a more aggressive vocal style the order of the day. If there are any criticisms to be made, it's that Can't Keep Up is over all too soon. An extra song certainly wouldn't have gone amiss. However, with cuts like 'Put The Silence On Hold' in their arsenal, Silhouette are sure to cast a large shadow on the Northern Ireland music scene this year. I can't wait to hear a full album. - Belfast Music

?TUESDAY 6 AUGUST 2013 41
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?????We’ve all heard the song be- hind the ‘Our Time, Our Place’ adver- tisements, echo through our homes but lesser known is the woman behind the voice. Magherafelt songstress Shauna Tohill, singing under her alter-ego Silhouette, shot to fame with ‘Can’t Keep Up’ and is now preparing to sup- port Jake Bugg at Belsonic, alongside Nina Nesbitt and The Courteneers.
As the granddaughter of popular Irish folk singer Ei- leen Donaghy, music was very much in Shauna’s veins. Although her parents and sisters are all musical, it is Shauna who is holding the torch for her family. As a teenager, she described how she found song writing a release for her “teenage angst”, and later decided to pursue music as a ca- reer. She said: “I started writing and taking it really seriously. I couldn’t deny
determined that they wanted to use that one. They tracked me down and asked me if I could use it and of course I said yes.”
any further that I was supposed to be a musician, song- writer and per-
former,” she said. Shauna and her band were select- ed to represent
cover Northern Ireland advertisement as “over- whelming”. “I’m really proud to be representing our country because I think that Northern Ire- land has so much more to offer than people can see sometimes, even though it has problems now and again. Every country has problems, it’s just trying to get on with it and enjoy what good you actually have,” she added.
Northern Ireland with her voice after featuring on a compilation for Belfast’s Oh
Yeah Centre. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board began to take in considerations for their new advertisement, and the compi- lation was se- lected for con- sideration. She said: “Whenever they heard my song they were
While she admits that be- ing part of a national cam- paign was fantastic cover- age for her band, Shauna has been no stranger to high profile gigs. Supporting Snow Patrol during the MTV Awards was just one high-
The opportunity was literally a dream come true for Shauna, who envisaged becom- ing involved in an advertising cam- paign during her career prior to her success. One year later and Shauna still describes the feeling of hearing her song on the Dis-
light among her stage per- formances, which have also including playing alongside One Republic, and Blondie. Shauna was thrilled, how- ever, to increase her social media presence and bring her name into the forefront of the Northern Irish music scene.
three years that she has started to perform as Sil- houette, which can fluctu- ate between a solo project and as many as six mem- bers, which have changed throughout the years. “As people’s jobs moved on the line-up always changed, depending on what people were available to do. It’s just an ever revolving cast of musicians really,” she said. Shauna’s vision for Silhou- ette is to “reach as many people as possible with mu- sic and inspire people” and this is something that she has always intended with her songwriting. She de- scribed how her songs al- ways had emotional depth, based on her own experi- ences. She said: “I like to write about hard subjects but with a few glints of hope in it somewhere.”
The band name, which is in a some ways a pseudonym, ‘Silhouette’, was Shauna’s way of differentiating her- self from solo singer-song- writers, since she felt that to use her name to promote herself would be “egotisti- cal”. Although this has be- come impossible with her increase in popularity, she once imagined a music ca- reer where she would re- main entirely anonymous.
“I thought if I made up an actual name for the project then people wouldn’t as- sociate it with me, they’d associate it with music. I wanted the main focus to be music. Looking at a lot of other bands and artists, I think that image and the person and what they look like determines their career and I wanted to come away from that,” she explained. What makes Silhouette even more unique is its composition. Creating a name for her act gave Shau- na the versatility to include a band, but also opportuni- ties to perform solo. While she has been writing songs for her project since 2007, it has only been in the past
It would appear that her wish to reach people with her music has been grant- ed, as she described the positive responses she has received from her fans. Al- though many fans approach her to tell her how much they enjoy her music, it is those who have connected with her lyrics that truly make an impression.
“I have had people come up to me and say that they feel so much better because certain songs have struck a chord with them. That’s so positive,” she said. “I think that it’s great to hear when people are emotionally af- fected by a song.”
Shauna has had no aspira- tions for fame and fortune, which is the main reason why she has opted to go it alone rather than taking the talent show route. How- ever, although it has meant hard work and a long slog, she has enjoyed the whole experience. While she ha - Lauren Penman - Antrim Post