seventh cloud - tulsa, ok (2026)

The "rock n roll from ft wayne" is the least rock'n;rolly rock'n'roll I know. But that's why I like it. The Indiana-based band released their third EP (no LP yet!) and it's a small collection of moody lo-fi tunes that balance somewhere between noise pop and ambient pop, like drone music for ethereal music lovers.

I discovered seventh cloud after they released a fantastic split album with Velvet, but this is my first time with them tête-à-tête. What strikes you the most at first is how much vocals and lyrics-oriented this music is. In some places it sounds like sung poetry with noisy backgrounds. It makes the whole thing very lyrical with these artsy vibes that the band tries to water down with the garage-sounding lo-fi guitar noise and I dig it so much. Especially steady that, I have to say, reminds me of one of the best Polish dreamy songs from Rosa Vertov's repertoire. 

And this lyrical and dreamy state lasts until fixer where the emotional screams broaden the already pretty vast genre horizon for this release. I like the garage-like atmosphere that fills it to the brim, especially when balanced by the dreamy parts.

tulsa, ok costs 9 USD.

Check: steady

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: garage dream pop

Label: kevin records

:bandcamp:

:instagram:

:youtube:

:spotify:

Dorena - Kvar (2026)

Another post-rock band from Sweden this week and another comeback. This time, it's after an impressive (kinda) 13 years of hiatus! Dorena are coming back and their cheerful, carefree instrumental music sounds better than ever, especially now when the longing for the summer is still not that painful, but already clearly here. The Swedes bring us this feeling in the form of well-designed guitar compositions that never get too loud.

There is no coincidence that Kvar was released by Deep Elm Records, the label I know mostly from Lights and Motion's albums. It's a similar kind of post-rock that doesn't aim at overdramatisation and gloominess, instead, they propose their colorful and light-weight take on guitar compositions. The cover art that seems to be someone's childhood photo with the atmosphere of late summer, together with some track titles such as Tree Climber reflect the music here perfectly. This non-invasive melancholia of early September and sad lo-fi vocals go together so well! But that's not all: the guitar melodies are cute and catchy, but when the artists want, they can put up a show of dense guitar (and not only!) atmosphere as in Mykorrhiza and I love it.

The album is meant to stress the fact that humans all over the world, despite everything, have still more in common than what sets them apart. It's probably best visible in the title of the last track as LUCA stands for "last universal common ancestor", the hypthetical last common ancestor of all living creatures. Yes, one common ancestor surely brings all humans closer, but so does the universally beautiful music the Swedes create.

Kvar costs 7.99 USD.

Check: Tree Climber

Country: Sweden

Genre: carefree post-rock

Label: Deep Elm Records

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:youtube:

:spotify:

Star of Heaven - Kyrie (2026)

Sweden seems to have an infinite reservoir of atmospheric and ethereal-sounding post-rock artists from A Swarm of the Sun and ef to smaller, lesser-known bands who still have so much to offer. Sometimes even more. One of the latter is the Stockholm-based Star of Heaven with whom I was lucky enough to run an interview very recently. Before the interview features on the blog, let's take a look at their new album.

And the fans had to wait for this one for a long time. Three years after the release of the previous one, 2020's To Our Memories, the post-rock orchestra from Sweden released new material played live but only now after another three years, it's been completed and polished enough to be released "in a proper way". And so Kyrie, an album with the most original... origins have been created. The band says it's been inspired by one composition, Kyrie, taken out from Mozart's Mass in C-minor. But it's more than just inspiration. The artists took the several minutes-long track and slowed it down so it lasted way over an hour. And THIS was the blueprint for the whole album, a plan for the band's own compositions. That IS so clever!

The music here is certainly one of the most atmospheric and cinematic pieces in post-rock this year. It's MONO with less noise but more space and melancholia. It's MONO I'd like to hear on their last album instead of what they released on Gerbera. The compositions here are meant to evoke various emotions and bring various situations to your mind, but as they are not titled, it's one's very own interpretations that is required. In this way, I feel like it's safe to say that the Swedes make music for a movie score to a movie that's entirely in your head. Star of Heaven will play at 5NDREAS festival in November in Munich but more about that in a separate entry with the aforementioned interview very, very soon!

Kyrie costs 6.5 EUR (72 SEK).

Check: Kyrie VII

Country: Sweden

Genre: orchestral post-rock

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Schröttersburg - Ignis (2026)

A Polish band with a long history, but one I'd never really listened to. It finally changed with Schröttersburg's 7th album, released only a month ago Ignis. Everyone sayd it's post-industrial and post-punky and while this may be true, I'm at this party for the hypnotizing psychedelia of the longer tracks.

Yes, it is dark, yes, the track titles translate to some macabre images (like the Midsommar-esque Szubienice z kwiatów or "Gallows made of flowers"), but to me the Płock-based band is the best when they focus on creating the trance-inducing sections of the ongoing sonic repetitions and short (yes, usually disturibing) phrases shouted over and over again until they drown in the guitar noise eventually. Sorta like 10 000 Russos or other Las Cobras. The emotionless and slightly withdrawn vocals make this impression even more significant and I dig it. This is further enforced when you learn that the title's fire is viewed at the album as " a form of transformation, or spiritual energy" which explains the trance properties.

Of course, I wouldn't be myself if I didn't hear some post-rock in these compositions, especially in the monumental Jaźń, but it's not the clue here. The clue is that I'd love to be a part of the mesmerized audience at Schröttersburg's show right now when I listen to the album. 

Ignis costs 9 EUR.

Check: Jaźń

Country: Poland

Genre: psychedelic post-industrial

Label: Zoharum, DIY Koło, Hidden Beauty, Bat-Cave Production, Esion Records

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

hiacynt - bezkres (2026)

There is a number of bands in Poland who say they play shoegaze but very few that actually do that. So I was very happy to discover a band that was under my radar for a couple of years and that is clearly an example of the latter. Hiacynt in Polish means, no surprises here, a hyacinth a flower the ethereal nature of which certainly may be a paralel for the music of the trio. 

So it happens that it is also the 2nd this week band that quotes Nothing as one of their influences and I can only support that. So far, there are two very short EPs released, last year's światło II and bezkres released a month ago. Both very much worth checking out. While not shying away from writing sweet melodies, the artists seem to focus mostly on creating dense and mysterious atmosphere with guitar effects and slightly lo-fi format. It's no surprise that the title of this EP can be translated as "limitlessness". The dreaminess and melancholia of the vast horizons is what comes to mind when drowning in Hiacynt's music.

I saw the band performing live in Kraków the other day and it sounds very well live too, which is not always easy to accomplish for noisy poppers. And from what I understand, the musicians are also a prime example of what not giving up can give you. Maybe not a success quite yet, but surely a handful of great songs. Good start!

bezkres costs 2.5 EUR (10 PLN).

Check: bezkres

Country: Poland

Genre: lo-fi nugaze

Label: MuseUp Polska

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Silk - Auralux (2026)

There is no shortage of new exciting shoegaze in Europe, but I am going to welcome any debutants anyway, especially if they sound like the Irish project. Silk released their first ever (mini)album in May, but it got to my hands only now and I didn't hesitate to count it among the best noisy and dreamy releases of the year.

I don't quite know what to make of it as the label states that this is a solo project while all the visuals show a whole band. And frankly, the depth and the volume of the music, to me clearly indicate multiple people involved. Anyhow. The man behind it is Michael Smyth (ex Virgins) regardless and you can clearly hear that he is no real debutante. If you can almost touch the noise, it means this is a good nugaze. No wonder the band members in the picture show their love for Nothing (and yes, they also supported the iconic Americans). 

The sound you can touch as clearly as a wall you hit with your head is one thing, but obviously there is the counterbalance in the form of the dreamy vocals and sweet melodies that are as catchy as they are hypnotic. Clementine, Slide Away or my favourite track here, Pleasures are really not far from the best shoegaze songs from the old masters, but they also feel fresh, just like nugaze intended.

Auralux costs 3.5 EUR (3 GBP).

Check: Pleasures 

Country: Ireland

Genre: nugaze

Label: Blowtorch Records/Shore Dive Records

Band photo by Alyssa Duff

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

AV Sunset - Vs Reality (2026)

Maybe it's that I get more and more into the post-rock world or maybe it's just that it's a really good year for post-rock music. Especially the British bands managed to release some epic albums in 2026, including L.O.E, Civil Service, Nordic Giants, Million Moons... And AV Sunset are fairly new to the game, but their sophomore album that follows the 2023 debut Disconnections is delicious.

And yes, it is funny that they employed the kids' meme in their first track of the album (what's even more funny is that they are not the only ones as I showed in my Wielki Post radio broadcast), but I kinda understand that. The title ot the album suggests that the release is an attempt on comprehending the reality around us, one that seems to be shifting faster and faster and encompassing more and more irrational phenomena. The meme seems like a perfect choice to describe one of this Americanized to a huge degree reality's weird aspects (another one is The Cheerleading Elite, the title that also makes me think of Mogwai so much!).

The theme may be funny or deep, depending on your decision, but what strikes me the most is the music (duh!). Or, to be more precise, its quality. The guitars sound polished and attractive, the melodies well though through, the walls of sound impressive and certainly plastered and painted over. The band aimed for the monumental and cinematic sound and it certainly delivered just that. Massive props from me to the band for that!

Vs Reality costs 11 EUR (9 GBP).

Check: To Set the World on Six and Seven

Country: UK

Genre: guitar post-rock

:bandcamp:

:facebook:
:official:

:instagram:

:youtube:

:spotify: