Alt indie shoegazey rockers Wynona Bleach announce their next single “Swim in the Bay”
Mixing alternative rock, shoegaze and power pop, Wynona Bleach are a 5-piece from Belfast, NI. 2021 saw them sign to legendary indie label Fierce Panda (Coldplay, Placebo, Death Cab For Cutie); in early 2022 the band’s debut album “Moonsoake” was unleashed, unveiling an exciting and energetically passionate body of work, screaming battered hearts and fractured emotions. The band’s latest single is the sassy and dreamily lush “Swim In The Bay” – available from all download and streaming platforms from January 24th, 2024.
Wynona Bleach have come a long way since forming in 2018 as “R51” and have achieved much in that time: performing at BBC Introducing stages at Reading & Leeds Festival, a 12-date headline tour of Russia, and support to rock legends Feeder, The Slow Readers Club, Lonely the Brave, and more…. Their accomplishments only stacked up further when in late 2022 they were nominated for the Northern Ireland Music Prize for both Album and Live act. A winter tour in 2022 culminated in two shows at Other Voices Festival. The band had arrived.
How do you define Wynona Bleach? Just one listen of their current “Moonsoake” album immediately tells you they possess a defiant, raucous, rock energy but also that their genius amplifies a gloriously sweet and pretty ‘colour palette’, the music underscored and embellished by Melyssa’s trademark ‘Bubblegrunge’, scathing, little-girl-crossed vocals. In that sense they are wonderfully indefinable. Continuing this fragrantly anomalous theme, it is perhaps unsurprising the band signed their record deal in a beach hut located in a landlocked locked down beer garden in downtown Brixton!
“Moonsoake” was recorded immediately after the band was personally chosen to support Alice in Chains for the sold-out Irish leg of their 2019 world tour. It was recorded with Bill Ryder-Jones in an abandoned factory in Portugal, complete with a full recording studio determinedly hauled over there by the band from their hometown. The album also features tracks mixed by Grammy nominated Andy Bradfield and Avril Mackintosh, who have had extensive careers working alongside artists including Manic Street Preachers, Tori Amos, Bjork and Rufus Wainwright, to name a few.
The band started 2023 by doing a BBC Sounds live session and interview, and a successful first visit to the USA with huge, brilliantly received, showcases at SXSW in Austin, TX, and New Colossus Festival NYC. A prestigious support slot followed with indie rock legends Ash on the Irish leg of their UK and European tour. Now in 2024, the band are excited to ascend the next stage in their musical evolution with their highly anticipated, yet-to-be-named, sophomore album later in the year.
The new single from the forthcoming album, “Swim In the Bay”, isn’t exactly ‘coy’ as songs go. The song is boldly and unashamedly inspired by the act of giving both oral – (and aural!) – pleasure and is in keeping with the fearless themes from the debut album (“Drag”, “Aubergine” …) The track was recorded in the band’s rehearsal room/studio – an old ballroom above a working man’s club in Belfast, and it was mixed by Andy Bradfield and Avril Mackintosh (The XX, Bjork, Manic St Preachers, Rufus Wainwright.) Guitarist Jonny Woods is excited about the band’s achievements to date, he says: “We’re really happy that our first record has been reissued on splatter vinyl, and we’re excited to get moving on Album 2, which “Swim in the Bay” will feature on.”
Think glorious indie alternative rock tunes reminiscent of acts such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Curve, The Joy Formidable and Wolf Alice but with the Wynona Bleach stamp all over it. If “Swim In the Bay” is anything to go by, be prepared for loud grungy energy, unmistakeable hooks, lush melodies, the bold, the sassy and the beautiful.
