Wyn & the White Light - Luck

I've been following Wyn Doran ever since I saw her play live in February 2020, back in ye olden times. Her solo releases were quite good, and we covered and enjoyed them. But then she teamed up with Lucia Jean on bass and Heidi Tierney on drums to form Wyn & the White Light, and something just clicked. Her songs with Wyn & the White Light have been absolute revelations, and today sees the release of their debut album, Luck.

Luck is an absolute force of an album. A song like "Heal Me" is epic in size. Doran is just pouring emotion into the song, and it's one of the most powerful songs you've heard in years. It starts off as a quiet, plaintive song, and then the drums start kicking in and you know everything is about to change. "Heal Me" brings you on an absolute journey while condensing folk and indie rock into one sound. Doran still has her more pop leaning side throughout Luck, but this is unlike any pop you've heard before.

The album is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. It feels like Doran has purposefully put some cool down tracks in between the larger, more emotional ones. It's very needed, considering how much emotion and darkness is in many of the songs on Luck. But, even as emotional as the album is, there is a sense of optimism and hope throughout, particularly in the album closer, "How the West Was Won." As dark as Wyn & the White Light can get, the album is much more catharsis than purely depressing. Luck can put the listener through an emotional wringer, but you come out at the end better than when it started.

Wyn Doran says of her latest album:

“Our debut album, Luck, is a journey through the divine feminine and near death experience.  It took examining it from every angle to recognize that this album became my safe space to process widespread trauma- from growing up with a misdiagnosed autoimmune disease and nearly losing my life, to the frustration of societal patterns.  Each song gives way for previously suppressed fragments of my soul to have a voice and tell their story.  

"We centered the album release around the Celtic calendar, beginning with singles trickled out with the Autumnal Equinox, known as the day 'dark overtakes the light.'  The full album lands with the first day of Spring, and an ode to the rise of light. Our life goes through cycles just as nature does, and this album reflects on the darkest moments of my life with the reminder that when we can bring the scariest pieces of ourselves out to be examined, we can finally let the light in.”

You can listen to Luck below. The album is available now via Bandcamp. For more on Wyn & the White Light, check out the artist on Instagram