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

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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

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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

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Tomoyoshi Date + Stijn Hüwels - Tatemono (2026)

Another year, another great release from the Brazilian-Japanese artist Tomoyoshi Date. This time, again, a collaboration with Stijn Hüwels from Belgium. Together, the two gentlemen cast a musical enchantment on their listeners cause how else can this sonic beauty be explained?

The music here is very slow. Actually, you can barely hear it move. But it does, in the tiniest of waves, like a lake in the darkness before dawn. There are other small proofs of the fact that life is somewhere there, living on the edge of the compositions. It's the soft, intimate piano key sounds, not entirely providing you with melodies, but also not entirely lacking those. I feel like this album is about nature, but, in fact, it's the exact opposite. The title means "a building" and the tracks further confirm that. So, I guess, it's an office building at night? I don't know, cause office buildings and what they're about at night may be one of those unsolved mysteries of the reality around us. 

But one thing is sure: it's just one of the most melancholic but also comforting albums these days.

Tatemono costs 7 EUR.

Check: Corridor / Rouka / 廊下

Country: Brazil/Japan/Belgium

Genre: piano ambient

Label: LAAPS

Tomoyoshi Date - 438Hz As It Is, As You Are [​あ​る​が​ま​ま​、​あ​な​た​の​ま​ま​に​] (2022)

Stijn Hüwels + Tomoyoshi Date - 遠き火、遠き雲’ ​(​A Distant Fire​,​ A Distant Cloud) (2021)

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Din of Celestial Birds - Takeoffs & Landings (2026)

Three years after their highly appreciated debut album, the post-rock society is thrilled to receive a sophomore release from the Leeds-based outfit Din of Celestial Birds. They artists are proud about their fast and energetic, but also meaningful instrumental music. And rightly so, as the new album follows the (quick) steps of its predecessor.

As the title suggests, the album is "all about adventure, travel, and the journey of life" with everything that follows: the challenges, the failures but also the every day victories. Judging by the pace of most of the compositions, the artists have a similar feeling as I do: life runs forward so fucking fast. The guitar melodies reflect that very well, at least in most parts. The guitar melodies are the focus point for the band which goes very well with the very much genre-specific ways of employing the narrative and the emotional side of music.

The downside of the album, for me, is fewer moments devoted to atmosphere-building. The balance is shifted certainly towards the catchy and the dance-inducing side. Which has to be awesome at the live gigs too. I'm saying that because in my books this is usually a hard pass for me, but in this case, I feel like it works very well. I'd love to see those guys live at one point.

Takeoffs & Landings costs 10.5 EUR (9 GBP).

Check: Second Star To The Right, and Straight On 'Til Morning

Country: UK

Genre: guitar post-rock

Label: Big Scary Monsters

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Drawing Hills - Lueurs (2026)

I can't believe I already posted about the French band of Drawing Hills... almost 10 years ago. This reminds me that very, very soon, this blog will have its very significant birthday. But this can wait as the short EP released in June and filled to the brim with quality post-rock is worth a story of its own.

Since 2017, the band released only 3 EPs so it's not the most fruitful music career I've seen. HOWEVER, for a small and relatively unknown band, the quality of the music they create is staggering. I love when guitar post-rock finds this balance between being catchy and melodic and noisy and overwhelming. And Lueurs showcases just that: the guitars play blissful melodies only to become aggressively loud and math-rock-like random (in my favourite track here, Inferno). This doesn't mean that there is no continuity here as the whole album feels very well-thought-through and coherently atmospheric.

So the EP may be short, but there is A LOT going on from the beginning to the finish. I just wish the Frenchmen won't wait another 4 years with another three tracks. It's time for an LP I think.

Lueurs costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Inferno

Country: France

Genre: guitar post-rock

Drawing Hills - Bunch of Bushes (2017)

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The Dreamtoday - We Won't Survive the Comet (2026)

Hailing from Pennsylvania, The Dreamtoday brings us some of noisy and coarse-sounding shoegaze, a subgenre that doesn't always work right, but this time it certainly does. They released their second album called We Won't Survive the Comet and it's such an interesting read (I'd say if that was a book)!

A second album or "a story of delusional grandeur and apocalyptic bliss" as they advertise it. And I'm kinda perplexed by the description. If anything, I'd say the sound is more garage-like or small-stage-big-party-esque than equipped with grandeur. As well as bringing the crunchy sounds than the blissful, synth-heavy shoegaze. I was hesitant to call it grunge as I never know what it means exactly, but I see the band themselves use this tag so, yeah, it's grungey shoegaze. Grugaze. 

I particularly like when the band tries adding something else to the slate like when the soothing vocals finally give up lighting up the compositions and get overwhelmed by the noisy guitar sounds as it is the case in Crystal Sky or in my favourite Our Beacon. Or the sort of an interludium but also kinda a cool and dreamy song in through fog. Or the wild Saxophone appearing on Breathe. There is a lot going on in here, probably just as it would be in the final moments before the not surviving the comet situation. Oh, also, the vocalist's called Violet Nowak so cheers to my fellow Polish person!

We Won't Survive the Comet costs 9.99 USD.

Check: Our Beacon

Country: Massachusetts, US

Genre: grugaze (grungey shoegaze)

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