Saxon Shore's overall sound has been compared to Caspian, Explosions in the Sky, Joy Wants Eternity, This Will Destroy You, and God Is an Astronaut.

Saxon Shore formed in 2001 as the joint project of guitarist Matthew Doty and drummer Josh Tillman.

Tillman's brother Zach was recruited for bass duties for multiple North American tours.

After a host of tours across the United States (in which the band recruited three separate bassists), Tillman moved to Seattle and later exchanged four-tracks with Doty, who was living in upstate New York at the time.

The full-length The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore followed in 2005,[1][2][3] and the group's final album, It Doesn't Matter, was issued in 2009.