Ghinzu are back and beautifully unhinged on new single ‘Snow White’

From the rich tradition of expansive European art-rock comes one of Belgium’s most iconic exports, and they’re back with something worth the wait. Ghinzu have shared their second single, Snow White, lifted from their forthcoming fourth studio album ‘W.O.W.A.’ — their first record in 17 years — due out May 29 via Play It Again Sam.

The track is a lot more layered than its fairy tale title might suggest. Frontman John Descamps describes it as a triptych — three interwoven addiction narratives woven into a single song:

“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.“

Musically, Snow White refuses to be pinned down — which feels very much by design. Descamps on the band’s creative philosophy:

“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.“

For the uninitiated: Ghinzu have been one of Europe’s most compelling rock acts since their breakthrough second album ’Blow’ moved over 100,000 copies across the continent. They’ve shared stages with Muse, Placebo, and Iggy & The Stooges, and their music landed on the soundtrack of global box office hit Taken. The legacy is real.

‘W.O.W.A.’ has been a long time coming in the truest sense — the band reportedly wrote nearly 90 fully fledged ideas for the album before narrowing it down to a final 13 tracks. “We had all these hard drives everywhere,” Descamps recalls. “We wanted to gather 10 tracks together to really represent all those years of condensed work.“

The result sounds like a band returning to instinct. Their formative touchstones — the operatic grandeur of Queen, the abrasive noise of Nirvana and The Melvins — are still present and accounted for, but filtered through a newly liberated lens. Visual art plays a role too: painters Gerhard Richter and Francis Bacon are cited as inspirations, and the band leaned away from perfectionism in favor of something rawer and more immediate.

’W.O.W.A.’ track list

1. When Other Worlds Await
2. Snow White
3. Out of Control
4. Forever
5. Morning Lights
6. Mathias is Gone
7. Apologies
8. It’s The Law
9. #quietluxury
10. Fool
11. Death Race
12. Master Bluff
13. Breathless

‘W.O.W.A.’ is out May 29 via Play It Again Sam.

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