Aidan

Sister Ray Davies are a duo from Muscle Shoals, Alabama and make a glorious shoegaze sound inspired in large part by the early Christian, pre- Norman world of the Northumbrian coast. If you think that all sounds unlikely for a band from Alabama, I'd agree. They released an album in late 2025 called Holy Island, named after Lindisfarne, Medieval home of Saint Aidan, an Irish monk who is said to have converted the Anglo- Saxons of Northumbria to Christianity in the middle of the 7th century. 

Sister Ray Davies followed the album with an EP called Holy Island Baby in April, five new versions and remixes of tracks that include two Pye Corner Audio remixes. The Pye Corner Audio remix of Aidan is something else, a six minute channeling of the spirit of New York's Suicide crossed with Pye Corner Audio's analogue synth drones topped with blissed out, barely there vocals and Sister Ray Davies' guitar drones peering through. It's a beautiful way to spend six minutes of your life

Aidan was known for his strict asceticism and utter conviction in talking to the people of the region at their own level, taking an interest in their lives and slowly converting them to Christianity. What he would have made of 21st century ambient/ shoegaze is anyone's guess but I'm fairly sure if he heard it while near the altar in the monastery on Holy Island he'd have taken it as evidence of the divine. 

There are more versions on the EP- a Pye Corner Audio remix of Morning Bell that shimmers and sways in a shoegaze drift. There is a guitar version of Big Ships that echoes Ride's Vapour Trail with nine acoustic guitar players creating an epic wall of strings and hollow bodied guitars, and a Malaphors version of Nave that is fractured and abstract. The EP is at Bandcamp, digital and vinyl (the vinyl is sold out at Bandcamp but there are copies to be found elsewhere).