Cats of Transnistria - IV (2025)

POV: A band checks all your personal boxes to catch your interest. Having a great, unusual name; being from a beautiful and unusual place; and most importantly, creating magical music. No wonder that the Helsinki-based Cats of Transnistria have appeared on this blog many times already and it is safe to say that with every new album they will be featured here too. 

Because the band's dream pop is how this should be done. And since it's been already 6 (!) years since their previous (and my favourite!) album, I had to post about IV. Henna Emilia Hietamäki and Tuomas Alatalo have a great ability of creating moody, intimate dreamy tracks that do not shy away from using lightly louder guitars as it is the case in very old-school rock like parts of Thunder as an Arrow (no wonder that the video to this track looks like taken from the 90s.). I appreciate that, but still my favourites are the songs that mesmerize with repetitive structure and airy atmosphere. Like Horrors, a beautiful little nightmare.

And so the dream finally comes to an end with the extremely airy Ceiling of Stars and one can only want to go back. The cosy, very artistic and drawing from other genres dream pop from Finland is quite addictive.

IV costs 7 EUR.

Check: Horrors

Country: Finland

Genre: art dream pop

Label: Soliti

Cats of Transnistria - Aligning (2019)

Cats of Transnistria - Opium (2018)

Cats of Transnistria - Divine (2016)

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Sterile Cuckoo - Until All the Flocks Are Gathered (2025)

Dream pop that feels both intimate, melancholic and filled with life and emotions? Lively ambient meeting sadcore vocals? This is how Sterile Cuckoo's third album feels and I gotta say, there is little that could be done to grab my emotions more.

The name of the project is taken from a novel by John Nichols that was adapted to the screen by Alan Pakula so you know it's bound to be about interhuman emotions and the music proves is so well. The lo-fi atmosphere certainly help as well as the artist feels so close to the audience that you can almost hear his breathing (this closeness reminds me of what Raised by Swans does so well). But you can't say it's a monotonous singer/songwriter type of lo-fi project. 

Sterile Cuckoo creates compositions in which "haunting synths weave a tapestry of ethereal textures, interspersed with cascading guitar lines that radiate like distant starbursts", making soundscapes that are bursting with life while still feeling slow and contemplative. I love the addition of strings in Spring and Loss that is not too invasive but fits right in. Similarly the glitchy effects in Grave Memories and many more. Elements that enrich the compositions, without overtaking them and overshadowing the clue. And yes, the artis admits what we know already, the music is designed as a tool for meditation, for taking a while to reflect on your lives, on your emotions. And it works, maybe even too much.

Until All the Flocks Are Gathered costs 1 EUR.

Check: Spring and Loss

Genre: vibrant slowcore

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ANIMADORA - Sobre lo visible (2025)

If anyone craves some dreamy vibes but with strong sense of rock-like energy, very emotional vocals and heavy guitars, the second EP from the Spanish ANIMADORA is something to try. Sobre lo visible may be short, but there is some fantastic vibes included.

ANIMADORA seems to be a solo project by Andrea Podadera that evolved into a 5-pieces band (at least that's what RYM suggests). And this wide line-up is certainly audible: the compositions are multi-layered, with a big focus put on creating the shoegaze atmosphere but still maintaining the rock/grunge-like energy. The tracks are usually vibrant and fast, they make me think on the band's compatriots (at least formally!) from Arima, so I know that I won't stop listening to the alum anytime soon.

The EP talks a lot about relationships (that didn't go that well) in an emotional but also extremely poetic way. It is in Spanish, which I appreciate, so I have to rely mostly on a translator, but, yeah, those kinds of words are very universal. It is so well visible in the opening track that talks about the Devil the protagonist falls in love with and in El Carro:inóvil, certainly the most emotional piece here. 

Sobre lo visible costs 5 EUR.

Check: El Carro:inóvil 

Country: Spain

Genre: grungy shoegaze

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Lumnos - Na santa paz da aurora (2025)

The illuminated cover art says it all: this album is all about electronic blackgaze filled with the light as much as with the darkness. Lomnos comes from Brazil and I have to say, there is something in the Latin America that invites the solo acts that bring a lot of energy to the blackgaze community.

And while I haven't heard of the artist before, it is not a new name on the scene as this album is meant to be released to celebrate the 10 years of the project. Interestingly enough, the artist calls their music "Ambient Black Metal" which, I guess, is a good way of describing blackgaze. At least the amount of electronica makes sense (albeit far from ambient's peacefulness). Quite the opposite, there is so much going on in this music, not only the occasional black metal vocals and energetic drums. If this is an ad for the artist's last 10 years of music, I'm sold.

Na santa paz da aurora costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Janaína

Country: Brazil

Genre: electronic blackgaze

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Bezsenna - We mgle (2025)

Ah, yes, a good and fresh Polish post-punk, haven't seen that for a while. Although Bezsenna are called like a dream pop band (meaning "sleepless" for a female person), they are in fact energetic and rebellious (at least against the horrors of human existence) artists who are here to make use of some impressive guitar riffs.

While the structures of the songs and the vocals are very much (post-)punk in vibes, the real gold can be found underneath them. Don't get me wrong, I like the lyrics, they seem more focused on the ridiculous elusiveness of human's life and interpersonal relationships, which I find more universal and generally more interesting than punk's usual anti-system attire. But what I like the most is the modern approach to music that plays in the backgrounds. It is so catchy and modern-sounding that it may almost be indie rock-like. In the positive sense of course. I like this mix of punk's alternativeness and indie's approachable nature, makes the music potentially closer to bigger audience. I will be looking at the band's career with big interest.

We mgle costs 30 PLN (7.5 EUR).

Check: Palcem na wodzie

Country: Poland

Genre: modern post-punk

Label: Koty Records

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SOM - Let the Light In (2025)

SOM might be the band that made me interested in doomgaze as a genre. Their 2022's album The Shape of Everything really stuck with me and made me excited for the follow up. This came just two weeks ago in the shape (ha!) of the equally green and equally good album called Let the Light In.

High pace, complex music backgrounds and Jonas Bjerre-esque vocals is what characterizes the Americans. In their music, the "doom" part certainly doesn't refer to the speed in which the tracks go by and by. It's fast, there's a seducing flow, the compositions are catchy. The "doom" part is the heaviness of the music that contrasts so beautifully with the fragile, soft vocals that really make me think of Mew's airy madness. But what strikes me most is the ingenuity that is so well perceptible in the backgrounds. Everything that takes place under the vocals in Let the Light In, Chemicals or Give Blood is shockingly awesome.

The first part of the album feels certainly stronger. Maybe it's because this kind of intense music may tire the listener a bit with time. But still, it's one of the best bands of its kind out there and I can't wait for an opportunity to see them live somewhere out there.

Let the Light In costs 7.99 EUR.

Check: Chemicals 

Country: US

Genre: energetic doomgaze

Label: Pelagic Records

SOM - The Shape of Everything (2022)

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Empress Ephemeral - Everything Will Probably Be Fine (2025)

My favourite kind of post-rock is probably anything that includes neoclassical instruments in order to make the whole thing either more airy or energetic. But when the neoclassical starts playing the main role, my excitement goes beyond the metaphorical speedometer. And I've already learned that the American s from Empress Ephemeral make me feel that way.

The only ephemeral thing about this music is the band's name. Otherwise, it is crunchy, it is textured, it is tangible. It is a stone thrown at your face, nothing from the string instruments' atmosphere creating qualities. In here, the strings are in the foreground, but they fuel the music's energy and tempo. They are closer to folk strings than neoclassicism. Especially that they are accompanied by heavy and meaty guitars, making the band's works lying exactly on the border of post-rock and post-metal when it comes to heaviness.

No wonder that the artists admit to being inspired by "the raw beauty of their coastal surroundings". It does't sound like an ocean, it FEELS like it. Even the (beautiful, as always with these guys) cover art shows a violent burst of nature origins. This is this music. The only thing I'm not sure about is the album's title. Maybe it's ironical, because this kind of music doesn't make me calmer or less worried about the future. But maybe it's the "probably"'s role.

Everything Will Probably Be Fine costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: One Last Great Dream

Country: New Jersey, US

Genre: violins-led post-metal

Label: Movement & Repose

Empress Ephemeral - Empress Ephemeral (2022)

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