LYR - Dark Sky Reservation (2026)

The combination of spoken word poetry and alternative music is something that appeals to me a lot: so this year's BIG SPECIAL will be LYR - similarly hailing from UK but besides that, extremely different: instead of the post-punk spirit, LYR combines the unique vocals with artsy and pretty minimalist electronica and neoclassical music. This is LYR's fourth album and I'm very excited to discover the rest of their discography.

The lyrics here are, of course, the clue. And I already love some of the phrases/sentences coined for the album (especially the chorus in Blah! Blah! Blah! with the actual medical condition choice blindness embraced and used in a lyrical way) as well as particularly clever and sometimes hilarious word craftsmanship. Again, Blah! Blah! Blah! is a great example here: a song I'm genuinely as invested in the "plot" of the song as in the song as a musical entity in general. As could be expected (I knew, there is a post-punky element to this music), the album is very much a commentary about the world we live in as the artists describe themselves as "navigating towards sightings of hopefulness and constancy in an increasingly bewildering and storm-battered world".

The album title as well as a number of songs on it reference also the changing climate which is a) as interesting a topic as it is terrifying and b) not that much touch upon in music. Yet. But it has to be said that the band create a perfectly catchy songs as well. And with ease too. Eclipse is a perfect example of a song that steals the chorus from some kind of radio hit and repurposes it to accompany another brillant sheet of lyrics.

Dark Sky Reservation costs 11 EUR (9 GBP).

Check: Blah! Blah! Blah!

Country: UK

Genre: spoken word art rock

Label: Real World Records

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VLMV - There Will Come Soft Rains (2026)

Pete Lambrou is now the whole VLMV and he just released his new album with Pelagic Records. The "ambient-ish post-something" of his is as spiritual and tasteful as ever with a very heavy focus on the "singer/songwriter" part of the music, making me think of Raised by Swans a lot, not only because of how beautiful his vocals are.

This is this kind of post music that should be closer to post-pop or post-singer/songwriter than anything else: the core of the compositions here IS the lyrics and the vocals combo and the song's gravity is built by their presence. The sensible, lyrical songs don't care about the melodies that much, their role is to catch the listener and guide them from the chaotic reality of today's world into a safe place of beauty and calm. Even if in a very bitter fashion: "Robins will wear their feathery fire/Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire/And not one will know of the war, not one/Will care at last when it is done" reminds me very much of the post-war songwriting in Poland with a modern, pessimistic twist.

And this highly artistic sensibility of VLMV is noticeable also in the visual side of the project with one of the most striking cover art examples I know. Musically speaking, the artist's cheeky self-description is exactly spot on: the music here certainly feels ambientish with soundscapes made of soft electronica, moody violins and delicate guitars as well post-something-ish as the whole thing took off from the Scandinavia-esque dark pop and landed somewhere else. 

There Will Come Soft Rains costs 7 EUR.

Check: Bodies Grown, Pt.2

Country: UK

Genre: ambient singer/songwriter

Label: Pelagic Records

VLMV - Sing With Abandon (2022)

VLMV - Stranded, Not Lost (2018)

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Päfgens - Westend (2026)

The Slovakian couple who has been releasing their music for some time now as Päfgens already appeared on this blog with two albums. But I couldn't ignore the 6th one in their discography either: a beautiful but also utterly melancholic, hopeful but dark like an autumn day ambient pop for emotional people.

As the artists say, this album was born "when we bought a drum machine with the intention of making pop songs", which can hardly be further from what eventually happen. The slow ambient pop ballads made with acoustic guitar, whispering voice and various field recordings, fill out the air with never-hurried atmosphere of wistfulness. And when I wrote that the album was "born", it's not a coincidence as it is dedicated to the couple's baby, as they summarize it: it "is a memory of those who are no longer with us, but also a celebration of new life".

And you can hear it both in the lo-fi, fuzzy sound that makes the songs so much more intimate, as well as in the lyrics with the poignant "everyone you know will leave" sentiment repeated endlessly in Poprad that for me became the focal point of the whole album already at its beginning.

Westend costs 7 EUR.

Check: Poprad

Country: Slovakia

Genre: lo-fi ambient pop

Päfgens - Der Regen (2022)

Päfgens - Der Sturm (2019)

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Den Der Hale - Larking About (2026)

Den Der Hale is a band that has been very close to this blog for several years now but because of various reasons, never appeared here. This had to finally change cause earlier this spring, the Swedes released an album that shows a) some fantastically atmospheric music and b) what a change a band's sound can undergo in a short time. If I really had to judge, it's a change for good.

As they describe it, the sound of Den Der Hale's music underwent some major changes (also due to the line up changes) and for this album turned from more traditionally rock-based to experimental with "tape loops, resampling, and acoustic instruments" playing the major role here. The results are spectacular. While the previous albums had this kind of psychedelic rock with post-rock elements charm, Larking About is more about the silent parts, the passages that slowly build up to some kind of resolution and that create atmosphere that is as mysterious as it is exciting.

Everything on this album is less in your face and more subtly suggested. The unnerving atmosphere, the whispering vocals, the feeling of anticipation. The heavier parts are scarce but it only makes them more poignant, requiring more attention from the listener to properly experience everything from the instrumental ambient to the airy choirs to the post-metal pinnacles of the compositions. Heavy (even if not very loud on average) and very artsy (but not pretentious) album.

Larking About costs 7 EUR.

Check: Silphium

Country: Sweden

Genre: artsy post-rock

Label: Sound Effect Records

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Hanry - What Came From Silence (2026)

So it happens that two major contenders to the post-rock AOTY are being posted on this blog right after another. But while Kokomo's already recognized powerhouse within the genre, the French Hanry only just debuted with their album What Came From Silence. Not to mention that they could hardly be more different musically while still being more or less within the same music genre. So after the ruthless guitar heaviness yesterday, it's time for sublime and cinematic electronica-based post-rock.

Among their inspirations, the band lists shoegaze and trip-hop and you can really hear it from the first notes of the album. There is at least a perfect balance between the guitar and the electronic sounds with a heavy emphasis on the synth's presence. I feel like this is the French post-rock's specialty but unlike in Dragunov's and, especially, BRUIT ≤'s chaos, Hanry offer mellower, softer approach to the subgenre. More towards Lights and Motion than The Age of Ephemerality if you catch my drift. This doesn't mean that there is no more intense parts on Hanry's album though. The focus is clearly put more on the cinematic than the noisy.

What I love in their music is the flow the compositions offer: the synth-heavy and noisy parts (Remains! Time's Collapsing!) that capture you and leave you no choice but to follow them until a satisfying closure. The more I listen to it the more I feel like it really is BRUIT ≤ minus the weirdness, making it way easier to appreciate the intriguing soundscapes and electronic beauty the band creates, especially in the synths department. One more great reason to travel to this year's Pelagic Fest in the Netherlands. 

What Came From Silence costs 5 EUR.

Check: Remains

Country: France

Genre: electronic post-rock

Label: Pelagic Records

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Kokomo - Whip (2026)

Last month, at dunk!festival I witnessed tons of incredible gigs thrown by fantastic artists, but it was Kokomo and the monument of a show they created that was the biggest positive surprise for me. It's not like I hadn't been expecting it to be a great concert, it was just so much more. And now, when I listen to the Germans' 6th album, I revisit this moment and I'm certain that this is one of the best post-rock gems of the year.

And it's already been a lot of them! But Kokomo's album is somewhat different. The band is for me first of all the "bear album" guys and yes, If Wolves is still one of my highest rated post-rock albums ever, but since 2011 Kokomo are constantly evolving and Whip seems to be the pinnacle of this evolution from atmospheric, but also melodic and more traditional guitar-centred post-rock to pure atmosphere built with guitars. There is a difference, I assure you. At least I can hear it. It's more like a walk through a cathedral than listening to music for me.

The clue of this music now is the atmosphere generated by a unified wall of guitar sound in which you can hardly hear particular elements but you focus on the heaviness of the whole instead. This is introduced very early in the single track A Torinói Ló and doesn't really stop until the end of the release. Of course this, together with frequent additions of metal-like vocals that do not constitute the focal points of the compositions but rather signal the highest-tempo, most ecstatic moments of the music, this puts Whip probably closer to post-metal , but who cares about labels? What is important is that the music here is spectacular.

Whip costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: 1758 Times of Weird Sadness

Country: Germany

Genre: heavy post-rock/post-metal

Label: dunk!records

Kokomo - Totem Youth (2019)

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Dalot & Sound Awakener - IANOS (2026)

Two artists from very different parts of the world: Nhung Nguyen and Maria Papadomanolaki or Sound Awakener and Dalot joined forces to create an album that is as moody as it is artsy and complicated. The third collaboration between the two creates this kind of soundscape that makes people think and it's not something that happens frequently.

The album is written around the "concept of duality as it is expressed through life and death, endings and beginnings", but, as the description of the release goes on, this is only a starting point to further analysis of the current world, its wars, suffering and the dawn of AI. It's interesting to think how those themes, so far away from being light and happy, are reflected in the music. Which is... not dark, but also definitely not easily approachable. It requires attention and focus, a lack of distraction and a correct mood. Especially towards the very poignant end in Body of Shells. But don't get me wrong, it's definitely a beautiful album, especially when it gets as dreamy as it does on Tone in A Minor, but still, requires some effort from the audience too. And I can only respect that.

IANOS costs 9 EUR.

Check: Tone in A Minor

Country: Greece/Vietnam

Genre: neoclassical soundscape

Label: DERDE (Dronarivm)

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