Blanco White lives up to its name. Comprised solely of London-born Josh Edwards – whose musical development took place in Spain and later Bolivia – the creative project began aligning Latin and British culture through music in 2014 with the release of The Wind Rose. Therein the project declared its main ambition: to invigorate the British music scene with the excitement, energy and pure romance that Latin music elicits, through interlacing Latin music with archetypally British sounds. Four years later, Blanco White weaves a tapestry of Gaelic folk, Latin string music and the haunting, surreal charm of Edwards’ vocals in Nocturne – this time employing Latin instruments such as Spanish guitars and the Charango to present a powerful narrative on loss, trauma and escape.

A story teller oscillates between deep reflection and emotional detachment, the former of which is conveyed by the sparse appearance of strings and Edwards’ haunting vocals initiating the piece. Latin and acoustic guitars knit together to suggest an involuntary shift towards fervent regret, the sumptuousness of the sound suggesting a sense of indulgence in sorrow for the speaker, a Freudian-style melancholia. Intermittent blasts of muffled drum foregrounds heavy remorse, suffusing the narrative with its ominous effect, foregrounding the pain of existence, the harsh solidity of everyday existence, from which the speaker long to escape.

Transitions in style to a chorus reprise consisting of gentler singing deliver an ideal auditory setting for the
resignation of the speaker to his apparent fate of repentance – the alteration in style coming across as natural as the slide in mood of the speaker – preceding his reversion to stinging regret. Projected vocals soon enter, inferring with their arrival a folkloric, ballad-esque effect, suggesting that the drudgery of human existence the song conveys is one that has been told countless times before. The protagonist yearns to flee, and the dreamy style of the latter chorus responds by creating an oneiric aesthetic with which to conclude the piece.

Vocals grow softer in the fade out to imply a seemingly more positive ending for the speaker, an oneiric landscape painted by romantic guitar playing and gentle voices; an escape from suffering that only a surreal dreamscape could offer. Herein is a veneration of surrealism, of fleeing reality through art, specifically music and its experimentation.

Nocturne signals the achievement of Blanco White in connecting Latin styles with English music, and uses this stylistic association to convey powerful, relatable and timeless themes.

Written by Beth Andralojc

Blanco White tour dates

WED 19 SEPTEMBER – SAT 22 SEPTEMBER
Reeperbahn Festival 2018
Hamburg, Germany

THU 25 OCTOBER
World Cafe Live – Upstairs
Philadelphia, PA, US

FRI 26 OCTOBER
Red Room, Cafe 939, Berklee College of Music
Boston, MA, US

SAT 27 OCTOBER
Rough Trade NYC
Brooklyn, NY, US

SUN 28 OCTOBER
Songbyrd Music House
Washington, DC, US

WED 31 OCTOBER
Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto, ON, Canada

THU 1 NOVEMBER
Schubas Tavern
Chicago, IL, US

SAT 3 NOVEMBER
Café du Nord, Swedish-American Hall
San Francisco, CA, US

MON 5 NOVEMBER
The Echo
Los Angeles, CA, US

SAT 10 NOVEMBER
The Sound House
Dublin, Ireland

TUE 13 NOVEMBER
Village Underground
London, UK

THU 15 NOVEMBER
Bitterzoet
Amsterdam, Netherlands

FRI 16 NOVEMBER
Botanique – Rotonde
Brussels, Belgium

SUN 18 NOVEMBER
Papiersaal
Zürich, Switzerland

TUE 20 NOVEMBER
Ohibò
Milan, Italy

THU 22 NOVEMBER
Costello Club
Madrid, Spain

FRI 23 NOVEMBER
Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm
Barcelona, Spain

MON 26 NOVEMBER
La Boule Noire
Paris, France

Order “Nocturne” here