THE WYTCHES

Our Guest Can’t Be Named (Alcopop!)

Sidesplitting gothic quartet The Wytches boast tantalising stoner doom and gloom characteristics. Based in Brighton and formed in 2011, the group style psychedelia not as a vehicle for peace and lightness, but opt for a stark opposite. Over the course of Our Guest Can’t Be Named, their fourth album, you witness a shift. Early tracks, such as openers Zep Step and Maria, have the potential to fit nicely around past Wytches albums; come side two, Something To Fall Back On and the title track push the bracket of what’s expected from this band to its limits.

Brooding, slushy guitars warp together to create the album’s signature stoner sound, with lead lines often Middle Eastern-fused and progressive, while vocalist Kristian Bell’s delivery comparable to Elliott Smith or Harry Nilsson but with added voltage. Our Guest… is the band’s first release on the Alcopop! Label, and their first to feature drummer Demelza Mather as a fulltime member. If loss of identity and innocence is a theme of the album, established listeners should be able to identify early Wytches in this album as well as the potential for a future one.

words EMMA WAY