Whitelands
★★★★
Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day
SONIC CATHEDRAL. CD/DL/LP
Black shoegazing’s new torchbearers issue their wake-up call.
Whitelands’ debut album, its title taken from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, doesn’t instantly make its case. From third track Cheer, the energy levels pick up and feet hit the gas. Up to this point, the openly Slowdive-influenced style does not escape the shadows of their inspiration; after, there’s more angularity than their artistic stimulus, increased kineticism and a greater toughness. Founder member Etienne Quartey-Papafio is evidently still processing the live Slowdive session he discovered on YouTube in 2019, which became decisive to finding a musical direction. When forming Whitelands – named to acknowledge shoegazing’s constituency – after that internet encounter, he assumed a black shoegazing outfit was an anomaly. But then he discovered AR Kane – who have remixed a non-album Whitelands track – and the ’80s-born, still active North Carolina band The Veldt. Now, Whitelands are picking up the reins.