Ghinzu today continue their return with, ‘Snow White’, the second single from their forthcoming fourth studio album and first in 17 years, W.O.W.A, due for release via Play It Again Sam on May 29.
‘Snow White’ is a triptych about addiction, using three interwoven stories. Frontman John Descamps explains, “The first tackles addiction to computer screens and social media. The second story contrasts this with drug addiction. And the third focuses on Snow White – you’re poisoned with an apple and wake up with love. But it’s more about flashes, just an image in your head. The three of them play together in one song.”
A song that revels in creative freedom, ‘Snow White’ refuses to sit in one place. “Indie rock, by definition, involves manipulating references. And that means you can take folk, you can take punk, and you can take electronic, and everything comes together through a type of raw freedom. And I think this is the music we do.”
Listen to ‘Snow White’ on Sport Playlists New Releases.
From selling more than 100,000 copies of their breakthrough second album Blow across Europe, to sharing stages with the likes of Muse, Placebo and Iggy & The Stooges, and seeing their music featured on the soundtrack of the global hit film ‘Taken’, Ghinzu have long stood as one of Belgium’s most iconic rock exports.
The forthcoming record has been a work in progress for some time, with Ghinzu having written almost 90 fully fledged ideas for their new album, before whittling this down to the final tracklisting. “We had all these hard drives everywhere,” recalls Descamps. “We wanted to gather 10 tracks together to really represent all those years of condensed work.”
The results take Ghinzu back to basics, before blasting them into uncharted territories. Their formative influences – the energy and expression of Queen; the raucous grunge noise of Nirvana and The Melvins – remain, alongside their passion for visual art. Name-checking the painters Gerhard Richter and Francis Bacon as points of inspiration, they stepped back from their perfectionist leanings to embrace music at its most raw and powerful.
The band formed at the dawn of the Millennium, with John Descamps joined by Mika Hasson on bass, Greg Remy on guitar, Jean Waterlot on guitar / keys, and Antoin Michel on drums. Moulding indie rock forms into their artful vision, Ghinzu found their niche on debut album Electronic Jacuzzi, before earning huge acclaim on 2004 record Blow and breakout moment Mirror Mirror five years later.
The band are also set for a W.O.W.A Spring EU & UK tour. The run will see the band bring their electrifying live show to Paris, Brussels, London, Utrecht, Cologne and Luxembourg.
