By: Martyn CoppackThe Wytches | website | facebook |
Brighton based band The Wytches have certainly ruffled some feathers in their short life and bagged themselves some great festival and gig slots along the way. It’s certainly deserved though and with their sound which is part gothic punk mixed with a dash of psychedelia they have latched onto a sound which is at once familiar but also quite original. That it is gloriously accessible beyond the raw, primitive power is another string to their bow.
Following on from the excellent Annabel Dream Reader, their new album All Your Happy Life is more of the same but with a much more confident style. Never afraid to divulge in the darker side of music, they blend their proto Stooges riffs with wonderful melodic abandonment as vocalist Kristian Bell puts in a superb performance. One only had to listen to ‘Can’t Face It’, a song which simply thrusts itself at you in sheer glee as it entices you to come into their world.
Their stories of small town life sit strangely with their at times ethereal sound and when the band slip down one of their more psychedelic strands such as on ‘A Feeling We Get’ they sound out of this world. You can felt the desperation of escape screaming at you whilst all the time, the band keep a measured yet twisted sound. Both anthemic and introspective, it’s emo for the new psych generation.
There’s a lot more to The Wytches than just a psych and roll band and you can sense them getting ready for bigger things ahead. It’s not forced though and any success which they get will probably be taken with a hint of surprise. They can do discordant (‘Ghost House’) as much as they can do radio-friendly and in ‘Crest Of Death’ they can sound simply deranged. Bell may be one of the more unique vocalists around at the moment and along with the stunning musicianship of Gianni Honey (drums), Daniel Rumsey (bass) and now Mark Breed (keyboards) they certainly know how to craft an album of eminent playability.
