WHITELANDS
Bringing beautiful soundscapes and emotion meet Whitelands; A shoegaze band from London as we discuss their musical journey and the themes of their latest album “Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day”.
Back in February I went to a solo gig to see Slowdive live at the Eventim Apollo. Whitelands were their supporting act and until that night I had not heard of them. As they started to play, I was in awe. Their beautiful chords, dreamy but powerful vocals painted an auditory image in my mind as I saw them perform. As a natural observer I looked around me and saw the audience in the same boat as I, closing their eyes and swaying, jumping up and down or nodding their head on beat - It was evident this was a collective experience. After the night ended I walked into the main lobby where I found members Ettiene, Jagun and Michael greeting fans. I approached and asked if they would like to be part of my blog and luckily they were very enthusiastic to be a part of this!
We met after your supporting act for Slowdive at the Eventim Apollo; I just wanted to know how it was to tour with such a legendary shoegaze band?
“It was truly an honour to tour with Slowdive, with our album coming out halfway throughout the tour, it was one of the best things that could have happened to us as musicians, and on a personal level it was a dream to tour with my heroes.”
Being amongst the crowd I observed and noticed the range of people within the audience too; there were young fans with dyed hair, vintage clothes and piercings to middle aged rock fans with leather jackets and doc martens all the way to the typical British pub dads all meeting together enjoying music - how was it to play your music to such a wide audience?
“It's always fun to play to such a diverse audience. I think for the first time in our careers we were playing to a lot more children than adults, I think the rise of social media and Tiktok helped a lot more of the younger generation get into the genre.”
Was there a favourite moment from that tour?
“It was when there was a bit of social media buzz and we were seeing the venues fill out early for us, I don't usually see packed venues for the openers, but it was really affirming.”
What does music mean to you?
“For me it's just another form of communication, a way to symbolize and represent emotions and ideas.”
What is your favourite part about being a musician?
“Definitely travelling to new places and meeting new people, oh and all the yummy food to try!”
What have you learnt about yourself through your musical journey?
“I guess learning to be more “Human” and opening myself up to experiences and say yes more.”
What has been a challenge for you through your musical journey?
“I think finding the balance between work university and music has been a tough one, even on the tour I was still doing university assignments and that's kind of been a consistent headache since we were eighteen.”
What is one of your proudest achievements in your musical journey?
“Touring with Slowdive :)”
Where did the band name Whiteland's come from?
“It was from the first place I performed, a campus in Roehampton University called Whitelands, I did an acoustic set for my friend's birthday and picked the name when a older man asked us what it was!”
COVER ART
The cover art for your singles building up to your latest album all have some sort of abstract painting with bold colours- where did this idea come from?
“There's this software called Mendelbulb3d, it makes fractal art that looks super 3d generated, I figured out a way one day to make it look like flow paintings and stuck with that software ever since. now that the album rollout is over that era is unfortunately going with it.”
Have you chosen these colours to match the feeling of the song at all?
“I did try my best, I hope it translates well!”
Shoegaze is starting to have its own subgenres branching out now with all kinds of new sounds. I was curious to ask if there were any different genres or sounds you are experimenting with?
“I’ve been experimenting with a lot of synths and drum machines and stuff, some RNB, lots of neo-soul, but for album 2 we really are not sure what direction to take!”
I would describe Whitelands sound as iridescent waves washing over a beach; I'm curious to know; how would you describe your sound as?
“I think I would describe it as more woolly, fuzzy and chiming or in a longer sentence, like the glide over a waters edge.”
Your music is filled with all these beautiful moments with effects and instrumental changes - I wanted to know when you write music - what drives the creative process? Do you go in with a feeling first or lyrics or is it different each time?
“I go both with feelings first then try to explain it with the lyrics or sometimes with a melody, then I try to attach feeling to that melody.”
Shoegaze is quite a niche genre, something that I personally stumbled upon through Youtube recommendations where I discovered Slowdive - Sleep. Where did you first stumble across the genre?
“I first discovered shoegaze properly through Slowdives KEXP, a truly defining moment for me in the band's sound and how I thought about music.”
What is it about shoegaze that you love so much to make your take on it - for example is it the emotional vulnerability of the sounds and lyrics the genre offers?
“I really like how raw and emotional it is, and as someone who usually struggles with emotions it's nice to have someone else explain them for you.”
Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day
Reading the album name; I personally got the metaphor of when someone is used to the dark (sadness) they are blind to the day (happiness) or even on a more social point of view; those who are brought up in a specific state of belief or opinions (e.g racism, sexism etc etc) tend to struggle to be open minded to learn and understand other points of views; was this the meaning you were going after?
“Actually yes! you got it right exactly; the album covers those exact themes.”
On the album's post on Amazon I saw your collective frustration on how black males have this expectation to make aggressive music. Your music breaks those stereotypes and creates a space for them to express their vulnerable emotions - I wanted to ask if you have any advice for men about being vulnerable and opening themselves up to expressing those emotions?
“I think the best way is learning to identify these emotions and express them in healthy ways, repressing a key aspect of your humanity prevents you from being able to connect with others, learning about yourself and knowing yourself is the only way you can overcome a lot of things that cause you pain.”
I truly believe your music brings a chance for people to be people again, in modern life it is getting tougher and tougher for people to really show emotion, especially men - you make a space for people to be humans and explore those emotions as complex as they may be, I genuinely wanted to say thank you for sticking to your beliefs, do you have any stories of you seeing this positive impact happen amongst your consumers?
“Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! It is a big part of the way that capitalism objectifies people that makes it so hard to show emotions, it forces individuality, destroys community, and prevents people from guiding their children. It is intended to keep people at work all hours of the day and why there is such a prevalence of people forming their own cults.”
Is there a song that was more of a challenge to write than expected?
“Born In Understanding was the hardest song to write. It took about two years to finish due to a lack of funds and just figuring out that bit before the last chorus. But once it was done it was done!”
“TELL ME ABOUT IT”