Bleach Lab Releases Third EP 'If You Only Feel It Once'

Rising South London four-piece Bleach Lab share their highly anticipated third EP and debut release via Nettwerk, If You Only Feel It Once. To celebrate the release, the band have dropped their new single "I Could Be Your Safe Place", which follows previous singles 'If You Only Feel It Once' 'Obviously' and 'Take It Slow'.

If You Only Feel It Once overarching theme centralises around searching for the nostalgic feeling of home in other people and places.

Frontperson Jenna Kyle explains; "The lyrics cover a lot of themes of finding a home, feeling safe, finding your way in life and feeling like you're running out of or wasting your time on the wrong things or people. It's an inner dialogue with yourself, and in my opinion 'it' is subjective and could mean a number of things depending on the listener. However, to me, 'it' is referring to 'home' i.e. if you only feel home once. It is quite a low mood track and there are quite obvious themes of depressive thoughts and some quite dark lyrics, however it's self reflective and is meant to be somewhat encouraging."

The band have earned devoted champions at BBC 6Music, and wide critical acclaim at press. Having performed to a sold-out crowd at London's Omeara in March 2022, Bleach Lab spent the Summer appearing at UK festivals, and will cap off the year with a run of headline dates including an EP release show at London's Lafayette on November 11th (tickets available here).

Across their three EPs, the band have experimented without restriction, dipping their toes into unfamiliar genres to fully work out what kind of band they are, what works best for them, and where to go next. This playful experimentation and growth of sound all leads towards a debut album, which the band have been thinking about since their inception. "We're all very conscious about not making music that just replicates or sounds exactly the same as what we've done before," guitarist Frank Wates reflects. "There have been a lot of quite big jumps in terms of influences and sound between all of our releases, and I think that's an important part of our creative process."

Fronted by Jenna Kyle, Bleach Lab is also comprised of drummer Kieran Weston with his love for ethereal pop, guitarist Frank Wates' knack for crystalline, dream-pop and bassist Josh Longman's driving consistency and collaborative lyric work. 2021 saw the four-piece make their mark with the release of their first two EPs, A Calm Sense of Surrounding and Nothing Feels Real, the latter produced by Stephen Street (The Cranberries, The Smiths, Blur).

With one eye cast towards the band's enduring 90s influences present in previous releases, If You Only Feel It Once drives the bands vision forward - delving deeper into poppier, more modern sounds. It's through this dichotomy that Bleach Lab shine, achieving their intention alongside producer Duncan Mills (Peace, The Vaccines, Jake Bugg). From the first urgent strums of its opening track, If You Only Feel It Once flows like water with delicious melodies and their most instant, sugary offerings yet.

Elsewhere across its five tracks, they take influence from the dreamy pop melodies of Alvvays (on 'Take It Slow'), create gigantic, glistening singles ('Obviously') and end with the avalanche of noise on the closing title track with a deeply exciting glimpse into their future.

Listen to the new album here: