The Wytches

Dealing in a dark, grimy variation on psychedelia — think the Seeds staggering under the influence of the Velvet Underground and the Monks — the Wytches are a U.K. three-piece whose buzzy, doomstruck rock has made them the talk of the British rock cognoscenti. The Wytches were formed in 2011 by vocalist and guitarist Kristian Bell and drummer Gianni Honey, who had previously been members of the band the Crooked Cranes. Originally from Peterborough, Bell and Honey relocated to Brighton to continue their schooling after the Crooked Cranes split up, but before long they found they were eager to play music again. After posting flyers on campus looking for a bassist, they settled for the only person who responded, Daniel Rumsey, who had earlier been a member of the Voyage Andromeda and Dan Rumsey & the Bitter End. The new trio was originally called the Witches, but in order to distinguish themselves from other groups and make them easier to find via search engines, they altered the spelling to the Wytches. By June 2013, the Wytches had cut their first single, "Beehive Queen," for Hate Hate Hate Records, with a follow-up, "Robe for Juda," appearing six months later. In November 2013, the Wytches celebrated their first American release when Fat Possum Records dropped the single "Crying Clown." In early 2014, the Wytches signed a deal with Heavenly Records for the U.K. and Partisan Records for the U.S., and the group's first album, Annabel Dream Reader, arrived in mid-2014.