The Wytches release new album ‘Talking Machine’
Photo credit: Steve Gullick
A longstanding part of the UK punk scene, The Wytches today release new album Talking Machine via Alcopop! Records, whilst they begin their extensive UK headline tour.
From the moment it kicks off with the rollicking surf garage rock of the title track, Talking Machine opens a portal to an earlier, more innocent era of rock’n’roll, a period when bands would make an album by recording it in the same room together. It’s no surprise, then, that, for the first time since 2014’s debut, Annabel Dream Reader, this record was made that way too. Self-produced by the band and engineered by Luke Oldfield, the Talking Machine really leans into the analogue way of doing things, capturing The Wytches in all their raw and unfiltered glory. It means that there’s a real purity to these songs – and a noticeably human purity at that.
Probably the biggest impetus and inspiration for that need to sound authentic and human came from a very specific time when frontman Kristian Bell was working at a record shop. While doing so, he was listening to a lot of music from the ’60s, but also some “trashy ’60s revival bands from the ’80s” such as The Milkshakes and The Cannibals, all of whom created a heavy kind of music without any of the sonic tricks the band had used before. Because Bell doesn’t have a Spotify account, it was the first time he’d really made that connection.
Talking Machine is a record that thrives and flourishes from the connection the four-piece had in the studio, even though it was Thaker’s first time recording with the band – he’d only started playing with them in mid-2024. Not that you can tell. There’s a palpable chemistry to these songs.
Photo credit: Kirsty Atkinson
Everything on this record is very real, very raw, very human, very pure. That, in itself, is a reflection of how The Wytches are doing this for the right reason – because they love it. By exploring the past on this album, and by bringing those older recording techniques to the forefront in the studio, they’ve infused that love into these songs. As a result, they sound utterly refreshed, renewed and revitalised. Not only can you hear that in the fabric of these songs, but also in the band’s attitude towards them.
The Wytches are:
Kristian Bell (vocals/guitar)
Daniel Rumsey (bass)
Mark Breed (guitar/keyboard)
Bhav Thaker (drums)
Photo credit: Kirsty Atkinson
