shame announce a hiatus after the last Cutthroat shows

shame are taking a break. The South London five-piece announced on Instagram on August 28 that they will go on hiatus once the last shows in support of their fourth album, Cutthroat, are played, closing a year they described as an incredible one spent touring the record and travelling the world.

They were careful about the framing. "This is by no means a goodbye, it's a see you later," they wrote, promising to come back badder and better than ever with the fifth shame record. The band added that they had considered saying nothing at all and decided they owed fans transparency about what was happening.

Three shows remain. They play the Parish in Huddersfield on September 2, Crookes Social Club in Sheffield on September 3 and Projekts Skatepark in Manchester on September 4, all of them small rooms for a band that has spent the year on far bigger stages. Their most recent appearance before the announcement was Green Man in Wales on August 21.

Cutthroat came out in September last year through Dead Oceans, the label that has carried all four of their albums since they formed in 2014. It reached number 8 on the UK Independent Albums Chart, and they have played over 100 shows behind it. The record pushed electronic textures, jangle-pop and spaghetti-western touches into their post-punk sound, and NME gave it four stars.

Frontman Charlie Steen described the writing as social commentary rather than a political mission when it came out, saying he wanted to write looking outward, and that seedy characters, cowards and hypocrites were not hard to find at the moment. The album also arrived after the band reached a wider audience supporting Fontaines D.C., a reversal of the arrangement from years earlier when the Irish band opened for them.

The hiatus is filed under rock and indie, and the remaining dates sit on the tour guide. Breaks like this have come round repeatedly this year, including Maribou State announcing a hiatus after their Hallucinating Love tour and Sophia Laforteza stepping back from KATSEYE for her mental health.