FEATURE: Spotlight: Bleach Lab — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Bleach Lab

___________

HERE is another band that I really like…

PHOTO CREDIT: Isy Townsend

and should have spotlighted a bit sooner! On 19th March, Bleach Lab released their five-track E.P., A Calm Sense of Surrounding. It is a brilliant collection of songs that marks the band out for bright things. I will wrap up this feature with a review for that E.P. Comprising guitarist Frank Wates, bassist Josh Longman, vocalist Jenna Kyle and drummer Shawn Courtney, Bleach Lab are a great London-based band a very particular and excellent sound. This is a group that will be dying to get touring when venues reopen. With a growing fanbase, there are plenty who want to catch them live! There are a few interviews/features that I want to bring in - so that we can get a better impression of Bleach Lab. Earlier in the year, PRS for Music introduced a stunning young band:

“Bleach Lab originally hail from Buckinghamshire and released their debut single back in 2019 – a simpler time for many of us. The sense of loss and change that permeates much of their music seems rather poignant in today’s world, evoking a sense of reflection that has become familiar to many.

19 March will see the release of the band’s new EP, which explores the feelings of grief associated with the loss of a close family member and the dissolution of a long-term relationship. Their new single, Old Ways, explores the sense of anger that loss can entail. On the track, singer Jenna Kyle’s sorrowful yet elegant vocals take centre stage amongst a soundscape of intricate drumming and yearning guitar lines.

This band are not to be missed, so discover more below.

Who?

Bleach Lab

What?

Delicate yet impactful hook-laden guitar pop.

From where?

South-London based, Buckinghamshire-formed.

What’s the story?

Scouring their discography, it’s clear that the members of Bleach Lab arrived on the scene with a distinct intention for the direction the band’s sound. That sound marries Marr-esque, jazz-tinged guitar playing with the mournful vocal phrasing of singers like Hope Sandoval and Julia Jacklin. Though there’s certainly a dreamlike quality to Bleach Lab’s output, their stories of heartbreak and loss are firmly placed within reality, the band unafraid of laying it all on the line with honest, direct lyricism and fuss-free production.

Last year, the band released Never Be, the first single taken from their forthcoming EP to widespread acclaim from publications such as DIY, So Young and Gigwise, amongst many others. Speaking of the EP, Bleach Lab write, ‘The EP melds together two traumatic experiences of grief: the death of bassist Josh Longman’s father and the breakdown of singer Jenna Kyle’s long-term relationship.’

Subverting the model of the five stages of grief, with lyrics written jointly by Kyle and Longman, the EP explores the vast spectrum of emotions experienced during the grieving process. The next single to be released from the EP, Old Ways, explores feelings of anger, as Kyle explains, ‘Old Ways explores the angry side of the grieving process at the end of a relationship. Anger towards the way in which they treated you but also towards oneself for still missing them regardless”.

This year is a particularly tough ones for promising artists who were hoping to gig and get their music out there to people. No doubt Bleach Lab can get some dates under their belt later in the year. I have heard their music on BBC Radio 6 Music. I have checked out their Bandcamp page too, and I really like that they are doing. I think they are among the most-promising and interesting bands of this year. CLASH highlighted Bleach Lab as part of their Next Wave feature:

“Their debut EP ‘A Calm Sense Of Surrounding’ is set for release on March 19th. Fusing a myriad of musical influences from Mazzy Star to Wolf Alice, Frank Wates’ Telecaster provides much of the sonic backdrop for the EP while Kyle and Longman’s collaborative lyrical work enhances the record’s depth of character with each track offering a personal exposé around the five stages of grief - anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. “It’s not just the words for me that describe the world that a song is in… I think the music around it is just as important,” says Longman, while Wates adds that their “backwards” songwriting process involving rhythm first then melodies last plays an integral part to their sound.

Longman goes on to explain how the sea was subconsciously explored as a recurring metaphor within the EP’s varying and vivid soundscapes: “People can see water in many different ways; it takes so many different shapes and forms. You can be comforted by it but you can also be drowned by it.” Kyle also theorises that her regular long walks by the seafront may have played a part in the theme of water slipping into the EP and combined with its lyrically grief-stricken essences, these two elements make for a powerful musical combination.

“A lot of the content in the EP is very personal and of course you do question whether you want to put all of that out there in all its glory,” mentions Kyle. But having sat on the material for a while, being able to now let it out in the world, she feels, has offered her a sense of closure from the experiences and emotions she expresses on the record. “It’s important that we have that personal connection with our music for sure… I do feel like I’ve been able to put my thoughts to bed and let them go. It is closure in a sense.”

Bleach Lab’s debut EP, in many ways, is exactly what many of us need in our lives right now – to escape from the uncertainty and chaos of the pandemic and bask in a calmer sense of surrounding. Clearly, this is also resonating with an ever-growing listener base as the band recently sold out a socially distanced show at London’s Moth Club within a mere four hours of its announcement. “I think things are becoming increasingly more positive,” mentions Kyle on the current state of our lockdown-ridden world, and as anticipation for freedom looms ever larger on the horizon, so too, it seems, does Bleach Lab’s likelihood of future success”.

Although the entire band are terrific and have a very close bond, I especially love Jenna Kyle’s vocals. She has this dreaminess and smokiness that gives the tracks so much beauty, mood and atmosphere. I also really love the compositions. They have so much depth and colour, one keeps coming back time and time again. They sort of remind me of a Dream-Pop/Indie group of the 1990s; albeit it one with a modern twist.

PHOTO CREDIT: Isy Townsend

The penultimate interview I will quote from is by Far Out Magazine. I learnt something about their writing process and the vocal dynamic of Bleach Lab:

“Bleach Lab’s music carefully uses emotional topics for currency, and each song has an underbelly of sentiment in it. This method of writing can be both a cathartic and heartbreaking experience as Langman can attest to: “I found elements of the lyrics hard to write, as parts of the EP are about me dealing with the death of my dad when I was younger,” he says to Far Out.

“I found it raw to talk about as this is never something I usually have done, so to share it with the band members, let alone whoever will stumble across this EP, was a daunting thing for me,” the bassist added. “But I found it really therapeutic, and I found it helped me a lot looking back at the experience creating this EP.”

The band democratically write tracks, and even though Kyle is the vocalist in the group we hear on the record, all their voices are etched into the words. The kindship that the band have built over the last few years has benefitted their songwriting process, forging an unbreakable bond that allows them to connect with intricate personal stories that are tackled on the EP.

While a lot of bands often claim that their song’s don’t carry a significant amount of meaning, Kyle’s view on the subject is entirely on the contrary: “I really struggle to write unless I am 100% emotionally involved in what I’m writing,” she explained. “It took an awful lot of strength to allow myself to go to the places that I had to go to, to write some of these lyrics. I’m glad I did though, it was hugely grounding and allowed me to look at things from new perspectives and let things go”.

In terms of some nice additional information, this interview from March is pretty neat. Bleach Lab were asked ten questions. I have selected a couple that struck my eye:

“What encouraged you to want to get into music?

Jenna – I used to be obsessed with SingStar on PS2. Not to brag but I was really good at it (especially my rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart) so my mum offered to send me to singing lessons when I was about 11. I never had much interest in any other subjects going through school so it’s always been my one thing.

Frank – I just really love playing guitar. I wanted to have a reason to justify to my friends why I spent so much time playing. Also, I think reverse psychology played a big part. Everyone I spoke to told me not to get into music and I think that just made me want to try it even more.

Josh – I got into playing an instrument later in my life and was playing around in the music rooms when I was in 6th form. I loved it so much I bunked all my classes with my friend to play guitar and bass for 6 hours a day. I got a C,D,E,U if you were wondering …… Mum was not impressed.

Kieran– My parents were always very musical. Both my dad and stepdad played in bands so going to gigs was a fairly regular thing for me. I got my first drum kit at around 7 and started picking up things from my incredibly talented stepdad, and my first gig quickly followed when I played a couple songs with his blondie tribute band. I wore an incredible flame shirt that night and absolutely smashed a rendition of teenage kicks (not a blondie song I know. Idk why that was in there), but it immediately made me want to do it more.

Best venue you’ve ever played and why?

Jenna- Bleach Lab’s gigging experience has been very limited thanks to covid, so I will go with blackbird leys shopping centre. I performed in a competition and lost- the crowd went wild! (not really).

Frank – Not in Bleach Lab but I played at the Kentish Town Forum once and it was wild and terrifying in equal measure. We had our own room backstage all to ourselves as well which was a delight.

Josh – Not in Bleach Lab but when I was about 10 I got to play the royal albert hall playing African drums with my class. Safe to say I stole the show. I am the mop head at the back in a yellow shirt.

Kieran- before Bleach Lab, I have previously played at the Camden Assembly. It was hands down one of the best gigs of my life, everyone loved us and then a couple of weeks later I went to see my favourite band at the time, the 1975, on the same stage. That experience was just insane and I’d love to be able to play there again, hopefully in the not too distant future”.

There are a lot of fans and media eyes turned the way of Bleach Lab. In a busy sea of new bands, I think they stand out and have the promise to endure and grow for years to come. It will be interesting seeing how they progress and grow as time goes on. A Calm Sense of Surrounding is an appropriately-titled E.P. It is one that got a lot of positive press. I will finish up by bringing in Riot Mag and their review:

“Bleach Lab‘s A Calm Sense of Surrounding was written as a collaborative effort, documenting two experiences of grief: the death of bassist Josh Longman’s father and the breakdown of singer Jenna Kyle’s relationship. The two work through the five stages of grief with intimate candour, each song on the EP representing one of the stages.

Opening track ‘Old Ways’ presents Kyle in the final moments with her partner. “Before you say it, I think I already know/ I never said it, you made it up on your own,” she sings, all the frustration and anger coming through the chorus like a transcription from their last argument. Guitarist Frank Wates quietly does a lot of heavy lifting in forming the atmosphere of the EP, creating calm lakes or raging white waters in the hypnotic soundscape of every track.

Even at a short 20 minutes, A Calm Sense of Surrounding still has the space to build upon its sound, ramping up tension and culminating in the dynamic ‘Flood.’ This is Bleach Lab at their darkest, dealing with the penultimate stage of depression. The rippling reverb from Wates’ guitar now conjures images of murky, ominous water. Kyle’s voice here is crystal clear and alluring, like a siren drawing you deeper and deeper into the unknown where Longman’s emotive, rip current of a bass line sweeps through the track. Bleach Lab form a harmonious relationship on ‘Flood,’ moving together almost effortlessly, each instrument complimenting the natural ebb and flow of the others. Kyle sings “I’m in his words, I’m in his mouth,” losing all sense of herself in the aftermath of her broken relationship, drowning into the song’s turbulent, enveloping climax.

Mazzy Star’s bluesy, country-rock influence on Bleach Lab is most clearly displayed in ‘Scars,’ closing out the EP with melancholic acceptance. Wates dials down the guitar effects, bringing a stripped-back and necessary clarity to this song. “I don’t want to hurt anymore,” Kyle sings, just waiting for time to heal her wounds. The stage of acceptance is not about restoring happiness — or even finding complete closure — for Bleach Lab. It’s about learning lessons and using them to move forward, forging a new path in life”.

Go and follow Bleach Lab and check out their music. I love what they are throwing out, as do so many other people by the look of things! Although they are really just starting out at the moment, I think Bleach Lab have the promise and talent to go..