Secret Shine

The group originally formed under the name Amelia's Dream.[1] After sending a 3-song demo to Sarah Records, Scott Purnell and Jamie Gingell recorded their first single for the label, After Years. After recruiting three more members (Nick Dyte, Dean Purnell, and Paul Vowles) they recorded the Unbearable single for the A Turntable Friend label in Germany. The addition of Dean Tyler to the lineup resulted in the Ephemeral single on Sarah. Later, Jamie and Scott recorded some demos that became the Untouched album.

In 1993 the album, along with the Loveblind single, was recorded and released. The addition of vocalist Kathryn Smith to the band added a new dimension, and this period saw them enter the Indie charts and become part of the burgeoning shoegazing scene.

Untouched tracks:

• 1. Suck Me Down
• 2. Temporal
• 3. Spellbound
• 4. So Close I Come
• 5. Into the Ether
• 6. Toward the Sky
• 7. Underworld
• 8. Sun Warmed Water

Just as things were starting to grow, Jamie and Scott felt it was necessary to go back to University for their final year, which slowed things down somewhat. After University, however, the band got back together and recorded the Greater than God EP, which they regard as their most accomplished work 1.

After the recording of the Each to the Other flexidisc, Dean Tyler left the band, followed by Nick Dyte. Tim Morris joined, on drums, the rest of the lineup being Jamie (vocals and bass), Scott (guitars), Dean Purnell (guitars), and Kathryn (vocals). The single Wasted Away was recorded, released on Spoiler Records as Sarah had recently folded. After playing a gig in Oxford in early 1996, the band decided to call it a day, though they never officially split.

In 2004, a retrospective collection called After Years was released by the Tonevendor label, containing all their Sarah material (apart from the first single, and including the Untouched album).

Though not the main reason for the band reforming, it was certainly a "catalyst" 2. To begin with, events were fluid. Scott left for a while, and, tragically, Tim Morris died. This made the band get back together again, and as a tribute to Tim they recorded the 8-song, acoustic Morris album.

Morris tracks:

• 1. You are inside
• 2. Lost all your friends
• 3. Loveblind
• 4. Silver machine
• 5. Take me slowly
• 6. Ignite the air
• 7. Tim's song
• 8. Decay

The band are still together. Their album All of The Stars was released 8 April 2008.[2] And the album The Beginning and the End, featuring 12 new songs, was released 5 January 2011.

In October 2014 Secret Shine signed with shoegaze and dreampop record label Saint Marie Records.[3] The new full-length album, There Is Only Now, was released on 17 March 2017.[4]

On 25 June 2020 the band self-released a new single Ember. [5] In interview around the time of this release the band said that this was intended to be the first of 5 single releases during 2020-2021 that would be combined with further new tracks to form a new album in 2021. This would mark the band's 30th Anniversary. [6]