Pumarosa

London electro-post-punk five-piece Pumarosa first drew attention through their improbable single "Priestess." Singer and guitarist Isabel Munoz-Newsome encountered drummer Nicholas Owen after both arrived at a rundown pub in Homerton for tryouts connected to an unrelated project. When the rest of the intended lineup failed to appear, the pair opted instead to launch a punk duo and promptly started composing songs together. Once the project relocated to a warehouse in Manor House, the addition of Henry Brown on bass, Neville James on guitar, and Tomoya Suzuki on sax and keys completed the lineup that became Pumarosa. In 2015 the group accepted a residency at a disused cinema in Calabria, Italy, where the expansive acoustics helped shape their distinctive sound. Later that year, after inking a deal with Chess Club Records, they issued "Priestess" as their debut single; its nearly eight-minute length did not prevent substantial airplay or an immediate boost in visibility. The next year brought the follow-up single "Cecile," at which point they began recording their first album under producer Dan Carey, whose credits include Kate Tempest, Bat for Lashes, and TOY. The Witch surfaced in 2017, its restless movement across genres prompting descriptions of the band’s music as "industrial spiritual."