White Town

White Town

White Town is an electronic act from Derby led by Jyoti Mishra. The project begins in 1989 and continues as an active group, with a lineup that includes Sean Deegan, Nick Glyn-Davies, Frankie Machine, Jyoti Mishra and Sean Phillips. It is associated with electronic, electronica, electropop, indie pop, pop and synth-pop.

Background

Mishra is born in Rourkela, India, and lives in the United Kingdom from the age of three. He is also described as a straight edger and former Marxist, and he writes songs that often present political ideas through the language of personal relationships.

Recordings and labels

White Town is widely associated with the 1997 single “Your Woman”, which becomes its best-known release and samples “My Woman” by Al Bowlly, a 1930s recording heard in the Dennis Potter drama Pennies From Heaven. The track is also known through the title of the EP it first appears on, >Abort, Retry, Fail?_. After a difficult period with EMI Records, Mishra is dropped by the label in 1997 and later works with independent labels including Parasol Records.

Later releases and collaborations

The album Peek & Poke appears in 2000 and receives a mixed critical response while selling less strongly than the major-label material. In 2005 White Town contributes “The PNAC Cabal” to the charity release Voyces United for UNHCR. In 2006 the album Don't Mention The War appears on Mishra’s own label, Bzangy Records.

Reputation

White Town is often treated as a one-hit act because of the success of “Your Woman”, but the project continues beyond that single as Mishra’s long-running electronic pop outlet.