Led by Kristian Bells luminous lyricism and feral delivery, Brightons The Wytches create a sound that is at once raucous and unruly, yet decorated with authentic emotional clout. Although Bell draws more from singer-songwriters (Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen) than specific bands, the trio's debut LP sees them accomplish a dark and heady sound that embraces the black arts and the more extreme limits of rock without being prescriptively macabre. Far from it ? all at once they reference surf, grunge, metalcore and spy movie scores, as Bell turns his voice into an instrument in its own right.