Hailing from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Wynona Bleach have, under a previous title (R51), already had the kind of impact alt-rock bands dream of, releasing two critically acclaimed EPs and playing the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds, supporting Feeder and Alice In Chains, performing on the BBC’s Introducing anniversary show at Belfast’s Ulster Hall, and embarking on a 12-date headline Russian tour before adopting their new moniker and decamping to an abandoned warehouse in central Portugal to record their debut album under the production oversight of The Coral’s Bill Ryder-Jones.
Lead single ‘Glimmer’ is a gorgeous sliver of distorted feel-good alt-pop, all searing-yet-bouncy guitar and thumping bass ‘n’ drums stunningly capped by Melyssa Shannon’s killer vocal take. There’s a touch of the Hayley Williams there, for sure, along with some Smashing Pumpkins, a smattering of Wolf Alice or the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, and maybe even the poppy harmonies of Haim in places, with a definite blast of old school swirling, swooping indie like Garbage, Curve or Swervedriver added into the melting pot for an extra measure of cool.
Shannon’s delivery is delicious, alternately fragile and raucous, merging effortlessly with guitarist Jonny Woods’ backing vocals, poppy and dreamy on the verses before the belter of a stadium-anthem chorus kicks ass with its gang-vocal shoutiness, the twin-pronged guitar of Woods and Aaron Black delivering both a crunching, overdriven power-chord belter and an insanely catchy single-note melody over the crashing tightness of Carl Gilmore and Matty Killen’s rhythm section.
Wynona Bleach’s debut album ‘Moonsoake’ is released next month, and available to pre-order now; the self-filmed video for ‘Glimmer’ can be viewed from Wynona Bleach’s website, or via Facebook.
Review by Alex Holmes