THE WYTCHES RELEASE B-SIDE "THE HOLY TIGHTROPE" OFF LIMITED EDITION WIRE FRAME MATTRESS 7" OUT JULY 7
DEBUT ALBUM ANNABEL DREAM READER OUT AUGUST 26
ON PARTISAN RECORDS
US SUMMER TOUR WITH CLOUD NOTHINGS & METZ
LISTEN: "The Holy Tightrope" via Consequence of Sound or Soundcloud
"Grimy guitars fade in and out, like the stomping of some metallic giant's boots, and drums pound and surge with little reason, all while singer Kristian Bell does his best to avoid the mayhem with oddball muttering" -Consequence of Sound
WATCH: Steve Gullick-directed official video for "Wire Frame Mattress" via Noisey orYouTube
WATCH: The Wytches' frontman Kristian Bell performing an acoustic session in an Austin, TX backyard via NPR or YouTube
"Grimy guitars fade in and out, like the stomping of some metallic giant's boots, and drums pound and surge with little reason, all while singer Kristian Bell does his best to avoid the mayhem with oddball muttering" -Consequence of Sound
WATCH: Steve Gullick-directed official video for "Wire Frame Mattress" via Noisey orYouTube
WATCH: The Wytches' frontman Kristian Bell performing an acoustic session in an Austin, TX backyard via NPR or YouTube
LISTEN: "Wire Frame Mattress" via Pitchfork or Soundcloud
"Punky aggression amid the fuzz tone" -New York Times
"A primordial blues-ooze that suggests Jack White if his music were actually as
goth as his haircuts" -Pitchfork
"A gloom rock band that throws a seance with every song - a seance replete with rattling bones, guttering candle flames, and deep-dark ghosts that break through the borders of life and death to haunt your brain" -MTV
"A gloom rock band that throws a seance with every song - a seance replete with rattling bones, guttering candle flames, and deep-dark ghosts that break through the borders of life and death to haunt your brain" -MTV
"The band recalls the gnarlier moments of '60s garage-punk a la the Nuggets compilation, and they've got the power and stage presence to pull it off." -SPIN (40 Best Things We Saw at SXSW)
"Raw-throat punk, stoner/doom psych, and Bad Seeds swagger, with perhaps just the tiniest hint of Wicker Man folk" -Brooklyn Vegan (50 Artists We're Excited To See at SXSW)
In preparation for their first-ever US tour with METZ and Cloud Nothings, as well as their full-length debutAnnabel Dream Reader (out August 26th), The Wytches are excited to announce a limited edition 7" with A-Side "Wire Frame Mattress" and B-Side "The Holy Tightrope." 250 copies will be available on July 7th, and can be purchased from the band on tour, or via http://shop.partisanrecords.com/products/wire-frame-mattress-7.
Formed in Brighton in 2011,The Wytches comprises Kristian Bell (vocals, guitar), Dan Rumsey (bass, vocals) and Gianni Honey (drums). Led by Bell's luminous lyricism, feral delivery and overdriven, surf-like guitar bends, the trio create a sound that is at once raucous and unruly, and yet decorated with semi-automatic poetry and authentic emotional clout.
Having left Peterborough after feeling stifled by their hometown's inward-looking hardcore scene, Bell and the semi-professional poker playing Honey relocated to Brighton in the autumn of 2011, applying to the city's university before enlisting Bournemouth-raised, aspiring adventure novelist Rumsey on bass - the sole applicant of an advert placed on campus. From the outset promoting their own shows in the city, The Wytches have never lost the DIY spirit of their hardcore origins: arranging their own tours; printing flyers; pressing their first single, "Digsaw;" inviting friend of the band Samuel Gull to create their artwork; and producing their own videos - all in spite of squeezed funds.
It is this relentlessness and resilience that has led to The Wytches headlining countless shows across the UK and Europe to date, acting as chief support to Blood Red Shoes, The Cribs, Drenge, METZ, Japandroids, amongst others. In 2013 the band released a number of singles and EPs on London's Hate Hate Hate Records ("Beehive Queen," Thunder Lizard Revisited EP, "Robe for Juda"), before attracting the attention of Heavenly Recordings in the UK and Partisan Records in the USA, who will release their debut album, Annabel Dream Reader, on August 25 (UK) / August 26 (US).
Recorded at Liam Watson's 8-track analogue ToeRag Studios in Hackney, Annabel Dream Reader was tracked in two days under the supervision of producer Bill Ryder-Jones (ex-The Coral). Comprising thirteen songs, Annabel Dream Reader sees the three-piece accomplish a dark and heady sound that embraces the black arts and the more extreme limits of rock, but which is never prescriptively macabre. Far from it, the band displays a broadness of influences - all at once the songs reference surf, grunge, metalcore, spy movie scores.
Bell admits to being inspired more by singer-songwriters (Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen, Roland S. Howard) than specific bands, and already he is an assured manipulator of his tools, combining Egyptianesque harmonic-minor scales with vivid, assonant wordplay, and utilising his voice as an instrument in its own right. Recording to rolling magnetic tape at ToeRag - with little room for error - lends an honesty and immediacy to the trio's performances, while Ryder-Jones supplies the softer songs with flourishes of organ, and allows the self-confessed 'obnoxiously heavy' sections to detonate freely.
Not ones to rest on their laurels, The Wytches admit a strong desire to erase and 'switch up' their sound with each album - plans are already afoot for a more intricate, more instrumentally diverse second record. Returning from Austin's SXSW Festival on a wave of praise from the likes of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, FUSE, SPIN and Flavorwire, the band will continue touring extensively throughout 2014 - taking in the UK, Europe and the USA - while promoting Annabel Dream Reader and untethering a slew of singles beginning with a limited edition cassette, "Gravedweller," their first for Partisan/Heavenly.
Formed in Brighton in 2011,The Wytches comprises Kristian Bell (vocals, guitar), Dan Rumsey (bass, vocals) and Gianni Honey (drums). Led by Bell's luminous lyricism, feral delivery and overdriven, surf-like guitar bends, the trio create a sound that is at once raucous and unruly, and yet decorated with semi-automatic poetry and authentic emotional clout.
Having left Peterborough after feeling stifled by their hometown's inward-looking hardcore scene, Bell and the semi-professional poker playing Honey relocated to Brighton in the autumn of 2011, applying to the city's university before enlisting Bournemouth-raised, aspiring adventure novelist Rumsey on bass - the sole applicant of an advert placed on campus. From the outset promoting their own shows in the city, The Wytches have never lost the DIY spirit of their hardcore origins: arranging their own tours; printing flyers; pressing their first single, "Digsaw;" inviting friend of the band Samuel Gull to create their artwork; and producing their own videos - all in spite of squeezed funds.
It is this relentlessness and resilience that has led to The Wytches headlining countless shows across the UK and Europe to date, acting as chief support to Blood Red Shoes, The Cribs, Drenge, METZ, Japandroids, amongst others. In 2013 the band released a number of singles and EPs on London's Hate Hate Hate Records ("Beehive Queen," Thunder Lizard Revisited EP, "Robe for Juda"), before attracting the attention of Heavenly Recordings in the UK and Partisan Records in the USA, who will release their debut album, Annabel Dream Reader, on August 25 (UK) / August 26 (US).
Recorded at Liam Watson's 8-track analogue ToeRag Studios in Hackney, Annabel Dream Reader was tracked in two days under the supervision of producer Bill Ryder-Jones (ex-The Coral). Comprising thirteen songs, Annabel Dream Reader sees the three-piece accomplish a dark and heady sound that embraces the black arts and the more extreme limits of rock, but which is never prescriptively macabre. Far from it, the band displays a broadness of influences - all at once the songs reference surf, grunge, metalcore, spy movie scores.
Bell admits to being inspired more by singer-songwriters (Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen, Roland S. Howard) than specific bands, and already he is an assured manipulator of his tools, combining Egyptianesque harmonic-minor scales with vivid, assonant wordplay, and utilising his voice as an instrument in its own right. Recording to rolling magnetic tape at ToeRag - with little room for error - lends an honesty and immediacy to the trio's performances, while Ryder-Jones supplies the softer songs with flourishes of organ, and allows the self-confessed 'obnoxiously heavy' sections to detonate freely.
Not ones to rest on their laurels, The Wytches admit a strong desire to erase and 'switch up' their sound with each album - plans are already afoot for a more intricate, more instrumentally diverse second record. Returning from Austin's SXSW Festival on a wave of praise from the likes of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, FUSE, SPIN and Flavorwire, the band will continue touring extensively throughout 2014 - taking in the UK, Europe and the USA - while promoting Annabel Dream Reader and untethering a slew of singles beginning with a limited edition cassette, "Gravedweller," their first for Partisan/Heavenly.
Tracklist:
1. Digsaw
2. Wide At Midnight
3. Gravedweller
4. Fragile Male For Sale
5. Burn Out The Bruise
7. Beehive Queen
8. Weights and Ties
9. Part Time Model
10. Summer Again
11. Robe For Juda
12. Crying Clown
13. Track 13
Tour Dates:
06/21 - Amsterdam, NL @ Best Kept Secret
06/23 - Birmingham, UK @ The Institute
06/25 - London, UK @ ULU
06/26 - Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy
07/02 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre * #
07/03 - Seattle, WA - Neumos * #
07/04 - Victoria, BC - Upstairs Cabaret * #
07/05 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw * #
07/07 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall * #
07/08 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy * #
07/09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy * #
07/10 - Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room *
07/11 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar *
07/12 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom *
07/14 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge *
07/15 - Lincoln, NE - Knickerbockers *
07/16 - Lawrence, KS - The Granada Theatre *
07/17 - St. Louis, MO - The Luminary *
07/21 - Toronto, ON - Drake Underground
07/23 - Boston, MA - Great Scott
07/24 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
07/25 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands
07/26 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
08/02 - Derbyshire, UK @ Y Not Festival
08/01 - North Yorkshire, UK @ Beacons Festival
08/30 - Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival
08/31 - Yorkshire, UK @ Bingley Music Live
09/07 - Isle of Wight, UK @ Bestival
09/14 - London, UK @ On Blackheath Festival
06/25 - London, UK @ ULU
06/26 - Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy
07/02 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre * #
07/03 - Seattle, WA - Neumos * #
07/04 - Victoria, BC - Upstairs Cabaret * #
07/05 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw * #
07/07 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall * #
07/08 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy * #
07/09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy * #
07/10 - Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room *
07/11 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar *
07/12 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom *
07/14 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge *
07/15 - Lincoln, NE - Knickerbockers *
07/16 - Lawrence, KS - The Granada Theatre *
07/17 - St. Louis, MO - The Luminary *
07/21 - Toronto, ON - Drake Underground
07/23 - Boston, MA - Great Scott
07/24 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
07/25 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands
07/26 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
08/02 - Derbyshire, UK @ Y Not Festival
08/01 - North Yorkshire, UK @ Beacons Festival
08/30 - Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival
08/31 - Yorkshire, UK @ Bingley Music Live
09/07 - Isle of Wight, UK @ Bestival
09/14 - London, UK @ On Blackheath Festival
* = w/ Cloud Nothings
# = w/ METZ