Villanelle & The Northern Wonder – December Bloom (2022)
Beginning as the solo project of singer-songwriter Kieran Greville, Villanelle & The Northern Wonder (VATNW) hit the ground running with numerous gigs across Manchester (that’s in the UK to be exact). A year later in 2020, the skills of singer-songwriter Dan Shaw brought an evolution of VATNW’s sound. In 2021, the project released a critically acclaimed debut EP Dark Days At The Grand, but the energy of VATNW bloomed as Katie Goodall (keys and backing vocals), Zach Tayler (bass and backing vocals) and Ana Larby (drums, percussion and backing vocals) joined the band.
After spending “the summer bathing in the warm analogue waters of 70s fuzz-rock…”, VATNW returns with a new single. Following their double-sided track ‘The Good, The Bad & Pedros/ Unravel’, ‘December Bloom’ is a nostalgic throwback to the 1980s with post-punk, grunge and indie-rock sounds. A reminiscence to Nick Cave and Joy Division is prominent with the gruff and rugged grittiness of Greville’s vocals; however, there is a softer, more soothing and flowing tone in the melodic arrangement. It is as if you are being placed on a glistening sonic river set off for another dimension, but the tumultuous waves beneath the surface continue to lurk in the background.
As with their previous material, a bold, rough and raw tone exists in the musical soundscape. Interestingly enough, while there is both a softness and hard depth to ‘December Bloom’, the obscurity heard in ‘The Good, The Bad & Pedro’s’ seems to have disappeared. Not entirely, but a more sophisticated and mature sound can be heard in the new single. Is this the beginning of a sonic evolution for Villanelle & The Northern Wonder? Truth be told, it doesn’t matter if the new song is a maturation or if the group retain a sense of haunting wonder, I love them all the same.
For more from Villanelle & The Northern Wonder check out their Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
