Credit: Bob Jeusette
GHINZU
DELIVER THEIR FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM W.O.W.A
AND SHARE W.O.W.A (SHORT FILM)
OUT NOW ON PLAY IT AGAIN SAM.
From the rich tradition of expansive art-rock that has long flowed out of mainland Europe, the much-loved and critically acclaimed Ghinzu today release their fourth studio album, W.O.W.A, and first in 17 years – out now via Play It Again Sam. The band have also shared a stunning 8-minute audio-visual. W.O.W.A (Short Film) is directed by Arnaud Uyttenhove and produced by CAVIAR, serving as a visual expansion of the record – translating its atmosphere and emotional undercurrents into film. Born in Brussels, Uyttenhove has a history of bringing his abstract ideas to life in rich, textured cinematic visuals, something evident in the final short. Uyttenhove describes the film as “a collection of fragments created for the release of Ghinzu’s new album, W.O.W.A”, also adding:
“Through anonymous portraits and fleeting moments, the piece explores universal emotions and struggles tied to youth, where everything still feels possible, yet the first cracks already begin to appear.
Set during a suspended summer between friends, it echoes the themes and visual identity of the album, blurring identities and perceptions, we never quite know who is who, or even whether these faces belong to the band themselves.
For me, it is above all an ode to youth: sensitive, bruised, sometimes lost, searching for its place, loving too intensely, protecting itself poorly, and transforming its wounds into light.”
Ghinzu treat creativity like a slow act of distillation. It’s been close to two decades since their last album, but it definitely matches expectation – W.O.W.A might well be their masterpiece, a taut, vibrant, emotionally crushing feast of ideas, packed with incisive detail. “For us,” notes the band’s John Descamps, “we considered creativity as a paradox. You inspire, then you expire. It’s the process of being alive. It’s raw and violent but has to be sophisticated and emotional at the same time. Some lines were predicted, others were accidents.”
W.O.W.A 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.”
With prior singles ‘Out of Control’, ‘Snow White’, ‘Forever’ backed by the likes of Radio X and Scientists of Sound, this new material takes 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.
Album tracklist:
When Other World’s Await
Snow White
Out of Control
Forever
Morning Lights
Mathias is Gone
Apologies
It’s The Law
#quietluxury
Fool
Death Race
Master Bluff
Breathless Words
Order the album HERE
Cat. Number: PIASR1642DA
The album is available on LP, CD, and DL.
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.
From selling more than 100,000 copies of 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.
Ghinzu’s Discography: Electronic Jacuzzi (2000), Blow (2004), Mirror Mirror (2009)
For further Ghinzu information:
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