Raynes and David Wimbish & The Collection

British-American trio Raynes formed when Mat Charley and Joe Berger, both born and raised in North Dakota, came across a video of UK native Mark Race on Instagram and fell in love—first with his face, then with his voice. After a few messages and phone calls, Mark was on a plane to the US to start a band (a few months later, he had the flight number tattooed on his arm). Since then, Raynes has signed with Sony Music Publishing and released six singles and four EPs, drawing hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners and tens of millions of streams and earning press in Billboard and People. They’ve performed at BottleRock Festival and in clubs, concert halls, and amphitheaters across the US and the UK, developing a reputation as a high-energy live act. In 2025, Raynes’ rendition of “I Want You to Want Me” was featured in an episode of Love Is Blind on Netflix. Known for their intricate vocal harmonies and unique instrumentation as well as their poetic lyrics, Raynes has yet to come up with a good answer as to what genre their music falls under. With all three members coming from different musical backgrounds, the boys combine their diverse influences to form a group that draws inspiration from around the globe, incorporating elements of folk, rock, and chamber pop with Celtic and world music to create a wholly original—and difficult to categorize—sound. David Wimbish wasn’t sure he had it in him to make another record. In the span of a year, the folk-pop/rock singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist went through a breakup, moved from Saxapahaw to Asheville, entered a new relationship and became a father, all while Hurricane Helene devastated his community. Friends went missing. There was no clean water for months. At the same time, his longtime band was falling apart. But through the exhaustion and uncertainty, David found his way back to music — and back to himself. Now based in Richmond, Virginia, David returns with Heavy Love, the warm, bracingly honest new album from David Wimbish & The Collection. Written and recorded largely in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the album marks David’s first project created almost entirely on his own, with him writing, producing, and recording the record from a studio he built in his parents’ North Carolina home. Growing up surrounded by music in North Carolina, David launched The Collection in college and has since built a devoted following through anthemic, heart-on-sleeve albums driven by stomp-and-holler energy, earnest songwriting, and deeply human storytelling. On Heavy Love, he explores aging, heartbreak, dissolved friendships, natural disasters, nonconformity, love as action, and existential uncertainty with immersive vulnerability and renewed clarity.