Wren Hinds

Hailing from the small town of Ramsgate along the tropical east coast of South Africa, singer-songwriter and producer, Wren Hinds delivers a lush, textured and honest approach to crafting songs with a reflective lyrical sensibility that communicates deep profundity.

Set between the Indian ocean and the rolling hills of KwaZulu-Natal, Hinds was raised in an artistic household and was greatly influenced by the works of his artist mother, his father and elder brothers who all happen to be musicians, as well as his uncle, a prolific poet and lyricist. It was in this environment that his inclination to music was enhanced and encouraged by his fathers song writing and recording in the ‘family studio’. The beauty and tranquillity of these surrounds combined with a familial synergy were to become an emblematic factor in the creative evolution of Wren Hinds.

From 2012 onwards, Wren Hinds had been building up a steady backlog of solo recordings which never saw the light of day until the first Bandcamp release in the summer of 2018 of Tragedy Hill, his debut full-length solo album. The album is a blend of a raw and intricate web of warm vocals, thoughtful lyrics and a simplistic layering of textures made up of the old family piano, an array of his favourite guitars and bowed strings, all recorded at his Durban studio.

In March 2020, while the world slipped into turmoil and uncertainty, Hinds self-released his second solo album, A Thousand Hearts, this time working closely with his uncle and lyricist, Keith Erasmus on two stand out tracks, ‘Sadness in the Wind’, and ‘A Thousand Hearts’.

In September of 2020, Wren Hinds goes on to release a seven-track EP, A Child’s Chant for the New Millennium, a handful of songs recorded in his childhood home, highlighted by yet another noteworthy writing union with Keith Erasmus on the opening three tracks.

A fresh chapter takes soft, sure shape for Cape Town-based singer-songwriter Wren Hinds on his new album. Released through Bella Union on 21st July 2023, Don’t Die in the Bundu follows Bella Union Pressings’ vinyl releases of Wren’s first three Bandcamp LPs. A gleaming set of gently dappled and poetic songs about fatherhood and fortitude, the album roots its restrained strength in an innate understanding of what matters most to us.

In a relatively short career, all the while flying under the radar with a rather low profile, Wren Hinds has proven to be a prolific songwriter, producer and composer, and an artist that is definitely worth keeping an eye on.