There’s a special kind of magic that emerges when a band decides to forgo the relentless pursuit of perfection and instead embraces the rawness of their craft. That’s the essence of Talking Machine, the fifth album from Brighton’s The Wytches. This album marks a return to their roots, as it was recorded live to analogue tape, the first time they’ve done so since their 2014 release, Annabel Dream Reader. The result is an album bursting with immediacy and instinct, brimming with a wonderfully human touch. The sound is rough around the edges, saturated with a thick atmosphere, and carried by an undeniable swagger.
The title track opens the album with a striking introduction. “Talking Machine” exemplifies the band’s gritty, stripped-back sound, featuring a powerful rhythm that drives the jagged guitars forward with a raw intensity. The lyrics are particularly captivating, drawing a connection between Thomas Edison’s early experiments with gramophones and today’s anxieties about artificial intelligence. This clever and eerie lyrical framework captures the album’s mood: anxious and alive, yet defiantly grounded in the analogue.
As the album progresses, The Wytches dive deeper into a darker soundscape, adeptly blending elements of surf rock and garage grit while occasionally revealing moments of tenderness. The track “Factory” gradually builds into a slow-burning storm, while “Is the World Too Old?” switches from distortion to a more intimate sound without sacrificing its underlying tension. There’s an electrifying chemistry in their performance, something that feels genuine, untamed, and unpolished. This album prioritises texture over narrative, wrapping the listener in its spell rather than spelling everything out.
By the time the closing track, “Romance,” unfurls its haunting strings, Talking Machine has established itself, lingering in your mind like smoke in a dimly lit bar. While it doesn’t completely reinvent The Wytches, it confidently reaffirms their identity, presenting a gritty, atmospheric record that unexpectedly provokes thought. Talking Machine showcases how embracing imperfection can resonate with a kind of natural magic.
The post The Wytches’ Talking Machine: A Smoky, Swaggering Return appeared first on Indie is not a genre.
