Skinshape is the project of British musician, William Dorey (from Swanage, Dorset). The music is inspired by many genres, but in particular 1960s-70s Funk, Soul, Reggae, Psych, African music, Library music and Folk.

Skinshape grew out of a love for old music and the way it sounded, from the songwriting through to the studio production. Initially Dorey experimented with samples (especially drum breaks) to create instrumental hip-hop/trip-hop tracks, but then later started to play around with tape machines and old valve studio equipment as a means to create his own ‘samples’. This process gave birth to Skinshape, with all elements being recorded by Dorey (a.k.a. ‘sample-free’) since the first self-titled album, released in 2014.

Aside from the Skinshape project, Dorey was bassist for the band Palace from 2014-2017, has toured briefly as guitarist for the band Monophonics , and also runs a reggae label called Horus Records that reissues rare releases from 1960s-1980s Jamaica and records original material at the same studio used for Skinshape in London (see Lo-Fi Showcase Part 3).

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