Tethered Hands - How We Live Is How We Die (2026)

I've covered their debut album exactly a year ago, but these guys have a great ability to create new music fast! And here we are, the transatlantic project is now five people in a band (they don't have a picture together though from obvious reasons) and two albums in their discography. Their piano and guitar kind of post-rock is as beautiful as ever and so the project band is one to have your eyes on as this time next year they will probably surprise us with even more great music.

As I mentioned before, pianist Joseph D. E. Phillips (US) (hi, Joseph!) and guitarist Daniel Rickards (UK) created ANOTHER transatlantic pact, but their aim is to create instrumental music despite of the obvious geographical barriers. Like a lot of water between them. Together with three new members (Pascal Normand, Sam Wallis and Joshua Cook), they can now fulfill the dream of becoming a real post-rock band, not just a project. And I think it's noticeable in their music: the complex compositions gained more dimensions while still having the same core values: piano keys as the structure that is complimented by guitar noise.

The artists translate their emotions into instrumental music, making it affect the audience in turn. As Joseph mentions: "We want [the fans] to feel something. We want the hairs to raise on their arms and their eyes to go wide". With the beauty of piano sounds, the ethereal, tear-jerking passages (so well done in Your Mind Is Going (I Can Feel It) and the guitars that ultimately add heaviness to the compositions, I feel like this goal has been reached. Make ŁŚ feel something? Check!

How We Live Is How We Die costs 5 USD.

Check: Ghost of Rochelbel

Country: US/UK/Canada

Genre: piano post-rock

Tethered Hands - Tethered Hands (2025)

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Glaston - I Am Whole (2022)

They make music since 2014, their debut album appeared in 2017, but it's only now that Glaston released their second album ever. The Swiss band brings post-rock and neoclassical music extremely close together and this makes I Am Whole something to have your ear engaged by for sure.

This is a pretty unique approach to post rock, I must say. Saying that it is led by the piano sounds is definitely not an exaggeration: the very classical piano keys are omnipresent here and decide the pace and the mood the music takes. And more often than not, it is surprisingly chill and relaxed pace and mood: the artists are concerned with the piano's beauty while guitars and drums mostly accompany this main actor. SO perhaps a neoclassical post-rock would be a fitting label for the Swiss band's music. There are cracks on this image that appear from time to time, as in Rotbuch where the guitars create very unnerving soundscape toward the end of the track, but the overall feeling is that the louder guitars still sit in the piano's shadow.

This is the way, a very jazzy way if I can add, the band decided to go to take the audience on a "journey of exploration, tapping deeply into emotions and feelings within". That's why more often than not, the music here feels calmer and more self-reflective than I would assume judging by the singles. It's an interesting surprise and I must say that it takes a while to appreciate this long album, but it's worth it.

I Am Whole costs 9 EUR.

Check: Rotbuch

Country: Switzerland

Genre: piano-led post-rock

Label: A Thousand Arms Music

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Shadow Universe - Subtle Realms, Subtle Worlds (2022)

This year is marked by the comebacks of the piano-based modern post-rock bands and now, after Nordic Giants, it's time for the Slovenian Shadow Universe to show their third album. For me, their debuting The Unspeakable World was one of those surprising hits I hadn't seen coming and til this day it remains one of my favourite albums of the genre. Subtle Realms, Subtle Worlds feels slightly different but it's not a bad kind of different.

A very big accent is put on the piano bits. The whole tracks are driven by the piano keys without sounding too depressing; instead, the piano makes them vivid and energetic in a different way most post-rock compositions are. Somehow even the inclusion of strings in Don't Look at It and You'll See It doesn't mean it's automatically a melancholia-infused song; it's slower and perhaps more beautiful but the pace is still there and it's quite surprising. Obviously, the moments of the neoclassical beauty are more often then not interrupted by the modern-sounding post-rock music that introduces a huge-scaled grandeur feeling, not so different from what Nordic Giants did this year. 

This multitude of various sounds complimented by subtle electronica and trumpets (or trumpet-like samples) in Losing Home and the glitches in Antares Goes Supernova is what makes the album a must-go-to for the fans of less traditional, more modern and eclectic post-rock music.

Subtle Realms, Subtle Worlds costs 8.5 EUR (7 GBP).

Shadow Universe - The Unspeakable World (2017)

Check: Don't Look at It and You'll See It 

Country: Slovenia

Genre: modern post-rock

Label: Monotreme Records

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Nordic Giants - Symbiosis (2022)

The third album from the British dark-folk-inspired electronic post-rock duo Nordic Giants is here and, as always, Symbiosis is a must-go-to for anyone who subscribes to the atmospheric post-rock music, even if it's delivered by very modern means.

The Rôka & Löki duo make a real experience when seen live. The attention to the band's image with the audiovisuals, costumes and the show in general, is beyond spectacular. I remember them from their Kraków gig back in 2017 and the memory is very vivid, no wonder that they advertise this aspect of their works even before mentioning their own music by saying that this "visceral experience that goes beyond the normal descriptors". This image is backed up by the music itself - clearly very fresh and modern take on post-rock music, but, at the same time, extremely atmospheric and massive. They create their music based on the prominent role of keyboard and synth beauty that is turned into loud post-rock by electronic noise and drums' tenacity. I love this balance between the traditional and the modern, the catchy and the atmospheric which is, again, especially well-tangible during the live shows.

This multidimensional approach to music is only strengthen by the inclusion of guest artists with Freyja (who cooperates with the duo frequently; here, in my favourite track on the album: Spheres), Welsh Chae Antony Winter and indie folk singer/songwriter Alex Hedley as vocalists as well as the addition of strings that always bring some fantastic atmospheric value. While the album clearly is quite diverse, it creates one very coherent, Nordic-inspired spectacle.

Symbiosis costs 7.5 EUR (5.99 GBP).

Check: Spheres

Country: UK

Genre: synth post-rock

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Non Somnia - Stella Meae (2021)

Carlos Herrera Quifes is a Spanish artist who creates his music under the moniker of Non Somnia. The project's names is quite deceitful as it translates to "Don't Dream", while the music he shows is all about dreamy feelings. Herrera Quifes has just released his debut album called Stella Meae.

In his music, the Spanish artist combines virtually neoclassical instruments like piano keys and strings with space/sci-fi vibes of progressive electronica and post-rock. The mix here sounds as if Tides from Nebula decided to play some moody and slower pieces with beautifully sounding instruments. As could be guessed, eventually the compositions end  up more into the post-rock realm with very guitar-fueled and loud crescendos. But even then, the music doesn't go away from the piano/synth nature, these are not only ornamentation, it's the core of Non Somnia's sound and it feels very well done. This combination of genres creates a dramatic and dynamic soundscape with words like epic and cinematic that have to be uttered here.

Stella Meae costs 5 EUR.

Check: The End of the World

Country: Spain

Genre: piano-based post-rock

Label: Post. Records

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