Red Vanilla are moving. The Dundee alt-rock quartet have announced their second EP, ‘Where I Should Be,’ due April 3rd, and launched it with new single “Sunkissed Pools,” out now. It is their first new material since their critically-acclaimed 2024 debut EP ‘Days of Grey,’ and it arrives as a deliberate left turn, their first fully acoustic release, built from layered vocals, guitar, and synth, recorded with producer Kieran Smith in lead guitarist George’s spare room in Dundee.
Vocalist Anna Forsyth wrote “Sunkissed Pools” from a specific and personal place. “It’s about your parents constantly worrying about your happiness or safety, wishing they could protect you, and my response to that,” she says, describing the need to move through pain on her own terms while knowing her parents remain her anchor. The band went with a less-is-more approach, and Forsyth believes the intimacy of the production puts full weight on the story. A lot of young people, she says, will find something in it.
Red Vanilla have been building steadily since forming during the pandemic. Their debut single “Embers” arrived in 2022, followed by ‘Days of Grey,’ a tightly constructed collection of guitar-driven alt-rock that drew early support from CLASH Magazine, VISIONS Magazine, Discovery Music Scotland, The Skinny, The List, and more. They have shared stages with Fatherson, Pulled Apart By Horses, Beach Riot, and Dea Matrona, and opened for Kyle Falconer (The View) across two nights at Camden Underworld in London.
‘Where I Should Be’ is being released one song at a time, a deliberate and unhurried process the band has embraced fully. Forsyth is direct about what comes next: “We’re so ready to start working on a debut album. We’ve got stories to tell, and lots to say.” The goal is to keep the momentum going and not wait around. For a band this focused, that sounds less like ambition and more like a plan already in motion.