Photo by Louie Crampton (Heidi’s Dog)
Are you ready to bless your ears and heal your soul? Wyn & the White Light and Josh Knowles will be sharing their new music with us at Rockwood Music Hall in Fenway on Saturday, Sept 23rd. Though Wyn has been in the Boston and Boston-adjacent music scene for a few years now, Wyn & the White Light was formed in Feb 2022. The band is New England-based, featuring Wyn on electric guitar, Lucia on upright bass and harmonies, and Heidi on drums and harmonies. When all 3 of them got in the same room and performed together for the first time, their feelings can be encapsulated in their line “Let’s do this again, forever,” and that’s how Wyn & the White Light came to be.
Together, Wyn & the White Light’s sound is “pomegranate-infused haunted soul rock.” In case you didn’t know (I didn’t), pomegranates represent fertility and death, both of which are a large part of the band’s music. “I should’ve gone first,” quipped Josh. “I need a fancy fruit to describe my music!” Josh has also been part of the Boston music scene for many years and, in addition to doing his violin-looping and electronic sets, he’s also been part of a couple bands here and there. Josh is at a point in his artist journey where he’s exploring a new sound that integrates different genres. “Early on, I would describe myself as a singer-songwriter whose music is emotionally evocative and electronic. But I also love my metal screaming, crazy 15-minute jam sessions, and dubstep. For this show, the feel of my music is more high-energy and cathartic.”
Wyn and Josh were supposed to play a show back in 2020, so this is sort of their do-over show with Josh’s new sound and the debut of Wyn & the White Light’s music. “This show serves a dual purpose — We want to re-engage our audience while also celebrating the revival of local music!” exclaimed Josh and Wyn.
Photo by Joe Navas
Josh and Wyn have known each other since 2017, when they bonded at a Lizard Lounge open mic, and they’ve been friends ever since. They officially released a song together, “Concern,” in 2021.
“Our friendship got stronger over the pandemic, so it made sense we wanted to partner for this Boston party,” Wyn recounted, thinking about how long they’ve known each other. “We’re good at encouraging each other and keeping each other calibrated creatively. We have a nice symbiotic relationship,” added Josh and Wyn.
During the pandemic, they started doing weekly creative sessions titled “Hot Garbage Sessions,” where they did different exercises like writing a verse or chorus to keep themselves creatively challenged. “Songwriting sucks (the struggle us artists face everyday), so we decided to not feel good together. The main rule of HGS was ‘it doesn’t fucking matter what the level of output is — we’re doing it!’” This gave Wyn and Josh an opportunity to collab with low stakes. In fact, 2 songs from Wyn & the White Light’s upcoming debut album originated in the Hot Garbage Sessions.
For people who haven’t heard Josh Knowles or Wyn & the White Light before, they are psyched to share their new music with everyone. Josh’s exact words were “Buckle up, baby.” Wyn & the White Light will be performing their debut single as a band, “How the West Was Won,” which will be live on all streaming platforms on Friday, September 22nd — the Autumnal Equinox. So you have one day to learn all the words before yell-singing them on Saturday. Lucia will be opening with an acoustic cactus-folk set and Josh will be doing a DJ set in addition to his musically-evolved performance, so you’re in for a variety of music and genres.
Though Josh got late for our interview — he missed an exit — he hopes that he will get off the highway at the right turn to be on time for the show on Saturday at Rockwood in Fenway. Also, both Wyn & the White Light and Josh Knowles will be incorporating therapeutic and metal screaming into their sets respectively, so rest up and get ready to release some energy on Saturday!