Annabel Dream Reader

2014 - Top 20 Albums (20 items)
list by Skywave

Led by Kristian Bell's luminous lyricism and feral delivery, Brighton's The Wytches create a sound that is at once raucous and unruly, yet decorated with authentic emotional clout. Although Bell draws more from singer-songwriters (Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen) than specific bands, the trio's debut LP sees them accomplish a dark and heady sound that embraces the black arts and the more extreme limits of rock without being prescriptively macabre. Far from it all at once they reference surf, grunge, metalcore and spy movie scores, as Bell turns his voice into an instrument in its own right.