A bittersweet rumination on the complexities of love, London-based Black British shoegaze band Whitelands have shared their latest single, ‘Tell Me About It’. Taken from their newly announced debut album, Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day, which is set for release on 23rd February via Sonic Cathedral, the track is an evocative, hazy musing on the way in which neurodivergent minds perceive love and heartbreak.
Proving to be one of our live highlights at last year’s Great Escape Festival, Whitelands have been busy crafting their intoxicating shoegaze sounds since they met at Decolonise Fest many years ago. Fusing together their eclectic personal music tastes, and bonding over a desire to shake up the predominantly white male shoegaze scene, the band routinely disarm listeners with their blend of noisy-yet-melodic riffs and effervescent vocals, finding the sweet spot between heavy and heavenly sound. Their latest single ‘Tell Me About It’, featuring label mate Dottie from deary, perfectly showcases these talents.
“It’s about being lost with the aspect of love,” explains Whitelands’ frontman and guitarist Etienne about the track. “It’s about dealing with break-ups, not in the sense of missing a relationship or a person, but the question of ‘am I doing this right?’ To me, it seems loving while being neurodivergent (ADHD) doesn’t follow a lot of the same rules, because I tend to fall in love with other neurodivergent people.” Through their use of drifting, dual vocals and ethereal guitar tones, the band beautifully capture these fogged thoughts and feelings of indecisiveness. This is also reflected in the track’s accompanying video, created by the psychedelic videographer Innerstrings.
Etienne offers more context about the band’s upcoming album too. The record takes its title from The Prophet, a philosophical book by Kahlil Gibran (1923). “The full quote is ‘the owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light’,” he explains. “I think it encapsulates the feeling of the album. A common theme running through the songs is lots of ‘I’, ‘you’, sense and emotion. Very physical and intimate settings. Lots of descriptors of light, celestial bodies, water, Biblical stuff, abstract stuff. I don’t really know why I write things the way I do, but I do tend to write emotions as anything other than what they actually are. I consume a lot of media. Video-games, music, news, paintings, manga, animations and film are my go-to, especially anime. There is this drive to want to understand and feel the whole weight of an expression. So, the songs are based on other songs, pictures, aesthetics, ‘vibes’, an emotion someone else felt. Fundamentally, you are what you eat.”
In the lead up to their album release, Whitelands will be playing a series of shows with shoegaze icons Slowdive throughout February, as well as a headline show at London’s Rough Trade East in March. Full dates and ticket info are listed below.
Watch the video for ‘Tell Me About It’ here:
Whitelands UK Tour Dates 2024
3rd February – Bedford – Esquires (with English Teacher)
16th February – Brighton – Dome (with Slowdive)
17th February – London – Eventim Apollo (with Slowdive)
18th February – Birmingham – O2 Institute (with Slowdive)
19th February – Norwich – UEA (with Slowdive)
21st February – Liverpool – O2 Academy (with Slowdive)
22nd February – Newcastle – NX (with Slowdive)
23rd February – Glasgow – Barrowland (with Slowdive)
24th February – Edinburgh – Liquid Room (with Slowdive)
26th February – Cardiff – University (with Slowdive)
27th February – Manchester – Academy (with Slowdive)
28th February – Nottingham – Rough Trade
4th March – Bristol – Rough Trade
5th March – London – Rough Trade East
Buy tickets to see Whitelands live here
Pre-order your copy of Whitelands’ debut album here
Follow Whitelands on bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter (X) & Facebook
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