Night-Bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day＜限定盤/Blue Vinyl＞

The origin story of Whitelands is an interesting one in that the members coalesced more around shared experiences with neurodivergence and race than around common musical inspirations. Named for the college at Londons Roehampton University where he played his first show, the project was started by singer/guitarist Etienne Quartey-Papafio, who released a varied but more straightforward indie rock album under the moniker before devoting the project to shoegaze after watching a Slowdive Live on KEXP performance. The bandmates he assembled for the shift in direction had backgrounds in R&B, techno, and punk (including Vanessa Govinden, touring bassist for Big Joanie) before coming on board. It may be surprising then that they create dense, hazy textures quite well and a little less surprising that they put their own subtle spins on the style, including lyrics from outsider perspectives and Govindens animated, often-melodic bass parts. On their debut album, light is a recurring theme that begins with the title, Night-Bound Eyes Are Blind to the Day, a phrase taken from Kahlil Gibrans century-old book of prose poetry, The Prophet. Echo-washed opening track "Setting Sun" is one of the records bouncier entries, although Quartey-Papafios ruminative, half-indecipherable lyrics help to set a consistently yearning tone, as do lines like "I’d like to understand/Meaning behind/What they mean I/Can’t seem to find a clue." Some of the more melodic songs here include the slightly more clarified "The Prophet & I" and the evocative "Born in Understanding" ("blazing flames on uncovered truths," "the moon rose asunder from ether"), while tracks like "How It Feels" and "Chosen Light" revel in pools of harmony and dissonance. "Now Heres the Weather" closes the album with something stylistically in between that leaves an impression with lyrics that address Brexit, racism, imperialism, and related concerns with increasingly noise-engulfed vocals. ~ Marcy Donelson