Black British shoegaze band Whitelands debut album ‘Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day’ will be released on February 23. The London-based four-piece are at the forefront of the new generation of Black British guitar music alongside Big Joanie and Bob Vylan and their debut album appears in the middle of their UK tour supporting shoegaze heroes Slowdive. It follows an incredible run of singles since signing to Sonic Cathedral, which has seen them playlisted by BBC Radio 6 Music and many others.

It may feel like things have moved quickly for Whitelands, but in reality this has all been a long time coming. In fact, there’s an argument that this isn’t their debut album at all, with a self-titled, self-released 2018 release still sitting on Spotify, alongside some other teenage try-outs. This is their debut as a full band, however, as they have grown organically from a solo outlet for singer and guitarist Etienne – who took the band’s all-too-knowing name from the college at Roehampton University where he played his first show – into a brilliantly balanced four-piece with the addition of first Jagun (drums and backing vocals), then Vanessa (bass) and finally Michael (guitar). The four of them have since formed a tight bond and supported each other through various life struggles and their neurodivergence.

Ostensibly a shoegaze band ever since Etienne stumbled across the reformed Slowdive’s KEXP session in his recommended videos on YouTube in 2019 (“I listened front and back, again and again, it was that sound that I just really connected with,” he enthuses) they come at the resurgent, Gen Z-soundtracking genre from a refreshingly different angle.