Zguba - Znój (2022)

After releasing his second album Potwarz two years ago (and winning my personal title of the best ambient release of the year), the artist known as Zguba ("Loss") comes back with another dark masterpiece. And Znój ("Drudgery") should be praised even more as it is supposed to be the final good bye with the moniker of Zguba.

It should be obvious by now that this project means darkness, depression and utter melancholy - emotions that are only empowered by the extremely gloomy track titles (here we can find "The Abyss", "The Swelling" and "The Ordeal" among others). But Zguba's characteristic trait is that he is able to convey it while creating very airy and ethereal music. Be it the use of backing choir vocals (as in Łaska ("Grace")) or synthesizers, this is fantastic means that adds tons of the sacral vibes and makes the listener relish the gloomy and the dark ambiance. I am very sorry that the project is not going further from here but I'll look out for anything that comes from the artist's side anyway.

Znój costs 6.5 EUR (30 PLN).

Zguba - Potwarz (2019)

Check: Łaska 

Country: Poland

Genre: dark dream ambient

Label: LOŻA Oficyna

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Thy Pallor - Cafuné (2022)

I don't know much about offstream music in Turkey (or even mainstream with only the old pop star Tarkan coming to my mind) so it's always a pleasure to discover an exciting new band from the region. And so it is the case with Thy Pallor, Turkish band that attempts to mix the aggressive sound of black metal with synth-heavy blackgaze. They just debuted with an EP entitled Cafuné.

The band has a straightforward mission as "they are here to make you feel sentimental, yet heartwarming". And so they keep their music in the style of flow-rich synthgaze, a genre that is known for the fact that it's almost impossible to stop listening to its silk-smooth compositions that rely on guitar and synthesizer sound cooperation. This is spiced by very black metal-like vocals and this lo-fi atmosphere that always brings a lot of honesty and intimacy to the music. And although it is said to be focused on the melancholic atmosphere (which works especially where accompanied by lovely backing vocals in Ashen), there's a fair number of melodic riffs that make the whole EP a heavy and catchy thing.

Cafuné costs 3 USD.

Check: Ashen

Country: Turkey

Genre: synth black metal

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Bad Light District - Brak Oczekiwań (2022)

The Kraków's band Bad Light District function on the Polish scene for years now, although I discovered them through their fourth album Lucky Blood Moon. Three years later, the band continues their unique music path with a short release called Brak oczekiwań ("No expectations").

Their music can't really be called post-punk with its complex and artsy compositions. But there is one thing that certainly comes from post-punk (and punk)'s legacy: the anti-establishment and social critique-heavy lyrics. I love the band's creative approach to language: the lyrics in all of their tracks are filled with clever play on words that is not only decorative but also designed to convey messages that are important to understand the whole thing: the most striking being "podstęp cywilizacyjny" in one of the tracks title being a play on the phrase "civilization progress" and "deception". So its chorus that goes "It all looks perfect/ from a distance" makes a fine and unsurprising comment on the world we know around us.

This also means that the almost-spoken word vocals really sound like poetry, especially that the synth-heavy music around it rarely is particularly invasive. There's some of the guitar noise and dark electronica there, but the most important thing for music here is to make the lyrics even more eery and ominous. And it works like a charm. Perhaps only the last track here, Błąd maszyny ("Machine's error"), is more into the instrumental part, sounding like a dark (and eery and ominous) post-rock gem with vocals in ornamental role.

Brak Oczekiwań costs 3.5 EUR (15 PLN).

Bad Light District - Lucky Blood Moon (2019)

Check: Podstęp cywilizacyjny

Country: Poland

Genre: darkwave synthpop

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Ai fen - Daily Grief (2022)

Ai fen, also known as Ewelina Chiu, is a Polish-Chinese artist who is already quite recognizable here. She recently released her second album and while I used to associate her with modern experimental pop music, Daily Grief shows more of her airy and ethereal side.

While in general Ai fen is still all about the new, avant-garde approach to pop music, the pop that is everything but simple and boring, I find some elements from dream pop music particularly touching here. It's mostly about the artist's vocals, very often dispersed and whisper-like, contrasted with minimal bass lines, deconstructed club elements and extremely subtle electronica. In other places, they remind me of the glitch princess Yeule herself or the ambient pop dark eminency Nicole Dollanganger (like in The Muse) with their hinted emotional layers. While the nature of the vocals changes from track to track, the experimenting and fresh electronic music stays at the same, intriguing level.

The album was written under the influence of the pandemics and its regular negative impact on people's life, and is meant to cope with "grief beyond the general understanding as a reaction to a life shattering event", something we all have to deal with in those uncertain times. It comes as no surprise then, that the pinnacle of the album comes in COVID Techno, the only track here dominated by the dark disco vibes.

Daily Grief costs 6.5 EUR (150 CZK).

Check: Can You Believe?

Country: Poland/China/Czech Republic

Genre: dreamy avant-pop

Label: Tender Matter

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Watchcamp March-April'22 with CERAS, Dream Suicides, Inner Mirror, Shallow Waves, Shuteye Unison

CERAS - 2022 Demo

The short album is "A glimpse at what's to come" from the Washington-based psychedelic rock artists who draw a lot from shoegaze's overwhelming sound with striking vocals. Certainly made me curious about the incoming music. Two tracks cost whatever you want to pay.

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Dream Suicides - It's Better Not To Say Anything

The Californian artist Daniel Romero has already a pretty impressive discography. The musician with a thing for Stranger Things the TV-series, released a new single filled with airy but also very melodic indie rock. Two songs cost 1 USD.

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Inner Mirror - Azaran 

Arturo Flores, a former member of the dream pop band Kordan, released a handful of EPs in the last months but my attention was drawn to the new single with its extremely warm and moody dream pop. It is partly so good due to the guest vocals by an artist called Coco, but also thanks to the airy and subtle music in the backgrounds from the New York artist. Two versions of the single cost 2 USD.

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Shallow Waves - Skin

Zaid Khan and his band are from Canada create some particularly noisy rock with post-punk influences and minimal, guitar-oriented vibes. There's something from shoegaze here, there's something from darkwave, definitely an interesting mix. Two tracks cost 4 EUR (5 CAD).

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Shuteye Unison - Pale Blue Dot | Severe Clear

Another Californians here; the band from Fairfax released an album over a decade ago and decided to "settle into fatherhood" only to come back with a new single now. They present a soft and subtle take on indie pop with heavy oneiric vibes all over. The two songs cost 2 USD.

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Georgeson - The Solitude of an Endless Sky (2022)

Joris De Bolle is better known as the member of the Belgium post-rock outfit Celestial Wolves, but since recently, also as a solo artist creating his music under the moniker of Georgeson. With the ties to the Belgian post-rock scene are known, it's no surprise that De Bolle's debut album, The Solitude of an Endless Sky, was released by dunk! records.

And the album is as far from the heavy guitar music as possible. It is filled with neoclassical sounds of piano that are both melodic and moody for the whole duration of the release. No wonder that there are so many references to the Far North and the snowy landscapes of solitude. Melancholia fills the album from the start to finish. Finish which is, unlike what I wrote at the beginning, gravitating towards post-rock with Les Feux Follets de la Somme ending with very loud and very raw-sounding guitar noise.

The Solitude of an Endless Sky costs 7 EUR.

Check: The Ballad of the Ninety-Nines

Country: Belgium   

Genre: piano soundscapes

Label: dunk!records

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Hoofless - Ad Nauseam (2022)

Although the Salt Lake City's Hoofless advertise their own music as "chamber punk", there's not much of the chamber subtlety here. The band is really a small orchestra with instruments such as cello and trumpets and what they do can probably be described as neoclassical post-rock. Which I love. Their second ever album Ad Nauseam is so good, one could listen to it over and over again without any side effects (regardless of what the title suggests).

While the orchestral nature of their music obviously adds tons of grandeur, it is composed in such a way as to evoke the emotions of nervousness and anxiety, there's more of the dark and heavy than any other feeling here. And as such, in many parts, the slow but steady pace and the presence of trumpets make me think of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and it's pretty clear that the Canadians were a big influence on the American band. While the neoclassical instruments play vital role throughout the whole album, the vocals only appear later, in Rise, but for a major role, they have to wait til the very end and the most lyrical and, yes, chamber pop-like, And This Too, Again and Again.

There are more calmer moments here as well. The first part of 9 to 7 sounds a lot like a sunny weather after a storm would sound like with a lot of shiny and soft sounds. However, as one could guess, it mainly serves as an introduction to another acoustic storm. Still, the loudness and noise here are introduced skill- and tastefully, only where they matter the most. 

Ad Nauseam costs 1 USD.

Check: Doubting

Country: Utah, US

Genre: orchestral post-rock

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Oddfellow's Casino - Prince of the Starry Wheel (2022)

It's very weird but this is the first album of one of my favourite artists out there, that I post about about here. I wasn't sure if Oddfellow's Casino and his moody, folk-like avant-garde music fits the blog, but I stopped caring and just went for it. Especially that Prince of the Starry Wheel continues his strike of albums that instantly became my personal classics.

Singer/songwriter David Oddfellow developed his unique and outstanding style that encompasses the folkotronic mix of acoustic instruments and delicate electronic sounds, the use of harmonium (I recommend listening to his podcast album where he describes the origins of his fascination with this instrument) and very moody, folk-inspired lyrics. While his previous album, The Cult of Water, presented a fascinating story-like coherent narration, Prince of... seems to be more all over the place. Although the lyrics-heavy release certainly has a theme of sorts, being "an album of earth, feet, marches, burials and the passing of time" with the title borrowed from William Blake. Another special thing about David Oddfellow is how inteligent his texts are, how many stories they include, how much influence from various places include (they make me think of Neil Gaiman each time and I don't know a better compliment).

While his music certainly has this unique atmosphere, it's fast and flow-rich, more like The Decemberists than Her Name Is Calla if you catch my drift. The lyrics but also the smooth and pop-like engaging music is what makes Oddfellow's Casino one of my favourite artists ever and this is just a humble advertisement of his rich discography to everyone.

Prince of the Starry Wheel costs 9 EUR (7 GBP).

Check: The Quiet Man and his Dutch Wife

Country: UK

Genre: poetic folkotronica

Label: Nightjar Records

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Gnolpths - Nodt Vemn Rogten (2022)

Gnolpths is a side project from the musicians of Noctriulm, Australia-based black metal outfit. While the names are completely new to me, the music included on the second EP of the former, one called Nodt Vemn Rogten, certainly caught my attention and can hardly release it.

Their "raw depressive black metal" shares a lot of features of post-metal music and I'm here for it. You can say that the artists have no issues with creating very loud and very energetic compositions dominated by noisy guitars and metal-like drums. The post-metal's vocals that haunt the backgrounds of this music are the cherry on top of this music that is both aggressive and melancholic at the same time. Long, drums-dominated parts (like in Nesil Dodt Ni) and the ghostly, Amenra-like vocals make the EP a unique experience. Rapid and spiritualized, especially in the really loud finish in Fikett Erog.

Nodt Vemn Rogten costs 2 EUR (3 AUD).

    

Check: Fikett Erog

Country: Australia

Genre: post-black metal

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Skyglow - Skyglow (2022)

The four-piece band from Germany, Skyglow, made their debut four years ago with a very promising self-titled debut EP. Finally, the time has come for the second release and they decided to go with... another EP called Skyglow, that's something I haven't seen before!

Also their music is shaped in a similar way: it's clear that the band know what they want to play and what emotions to evoke in the audience. The very much OG post-rock guitar-based melodic passages meet here with heavier, hard-rock-like guitar avalanches of sound. And so the listener enjoys a well-written and energetic composition only to get eventually lost within the realm of darker, more massive audio figures. Those changes of pace and atmosphere are what drives this music and what generates my excitement, especially in the pinnacle moments like the mathrock-like sections in Targ or the broken finish of Jaguar Floppy, very much in the 65daysofstatic style. The post-rock from the Germans is many things and combines a lot of sub-genres resulting in a work from the highest level of energetic entertainment.

Skyglow costs 6 EUR.

Skyglow - Skyglow (2018)

Check: Targ 

Country: Germany

Genre: mathrock post-rock

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awakened souls - Night Songs (2022)

The husband and wife duo Awakened Souls have been releasing music for two years now. James and Cynthia Bernard's music is a tasteful and beautiful. It is also, unlike the project's name suggests, very much fit for sleeping.

As the title of the release suggests, the pack of calming soundscapes was created under the influence of a night, peaceful walk. The music here is filled with this calmness which is highly contagious. There's no light sounds, everything seems dar but there's no trace of any dangerous force anywhere near. It's the kind of music that makes you think the night is good.

Night Songs costs 7 USD.

Check: No Other Place

Country: California, US

Genre: night soundscape

Label: Past Inside the Present

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Day & Dream - The Art of Remembering (2022)

The debut album from the American duo Day & Dream, With Every Breath You Die, made one of the most interesting mellow dream pop acts of 2019. This year, the artists (with the help of quite a big circle of fellow musicians) show their second release and it's filled with light-weight, ethereal pop.

The dreamy indie pop from North Carolina is based on the airy vocals of Abby Amaya, that feel both intimate and sweet with a hint of nostalgic vibes (so well-audible in Separation Anxiety). They produce this attractive feeling of falling into a plush-filled chamber and the state of a perfect peace that is only reinforced by the inclusion of nature-inspired field recordings. And certainly, the band's picture where they are floating in a ball-filled pool couldn't be a better visual representation of this music.

The vocals are accompanied by non-invasive, very chill music that only in some places fight its way to the first rows and draws attention of the listener. This is the case in my favourite song, filled with somewhat different vibes, Cabin Fever. However, the general feeling the album leaves is this calm appreciation of peace and melody.

The Art of Remembering costs 10 USD.

Day & Dream - With Every Breath You Die (2019)

Check: Cabin Fever

Country: North Carolina, US

Genre: mellow dream pop

Label: Lilystars Records

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GAIRO - Her (2022)

Five years after releasing their self-titled debut album, the Sardinia-based six-piece band is back with a brilliant sophomore release called Her. The combination of heavy post-metal music with slower parts, Amenra-style, but with little to none inclusion of vocals makes a lasting impression and can only be recommended.

The band calls their music a "crossing between acoustic moments, progressive rock and a selected usage of vocals", and, in fact, the band can be really quiet for a metal sextet - there are long fragments filled with acoustic guitar sounds and drones that are closer to instrumental ambient with folkish aftertaste (as in Koobi Fora). And those peaceful moments are not really devoured by the post-metal noise; rather incorporated into, with the heavier parts still very careful on creating the slower, more meaningful atmosphere - sometimes more about grandeur, sometimes, as in my favourite Apogee, more about the unnerving anxiety.

The thematic side of the album is really curious: there are some clear references to the history of humankind with the Kenyan region of Koobi Fora known for important archaeological sites and the year of the implementation of the ban on importation of slaves into the United States (1808), those are easier to decipher. What I find also extremely important is the thematic and fantastically poignant cover photo that instantly becomes one of my favourite cover arts ever. And this photo together with other visual pieces surrounding the album, makes sure that we know this music is all about the humankind and its (her?) story.

Her costs 7 EUR.

Check: Apogee

Country: Italy

Genre: instrumental post-metal

Label: Drown Within Records

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Local Blood - Dystopian Disco (2022)

The Lithuanian Local Blood debuted (also on this blog) with their EP called A Lure of Sights with the brilliant Total Guidance as the final track. But it was already over 5 (!) years ago. Finally this year, the post-punk scholars showed their proper debut album and Dystopian Disco is everything you may have wanted it to be.

I can sense so much influences here: there's something from Modest Mouse and IDLES in the vocals, tons of post-punk references from across the genre's scene and also something from the electronic compatriots from Solo Ansamblis in the way the compositions flow. As the post-punk canons state, the lyrics touch all the important stuff from the social point of view from the religious deceitfulness in My Blood to the state of being controlled (in, well, Control) and modern politics (Crawling Borders 2). But all this is made very approachable (which is important in those dark times now) with the melodic and catchy tunes and the way the band emits pure energy towards the audience. Especially when it's strengthen by the synthesizer madness like it is the case in Pressure. This modern and attractive approach to post-punk that hides the gloomy messages in the energetic blast makes the Lithuanians an important debut and a must-see for concert goers.

 

Dystopian Disco costs 9 EUR.

Local Blood - A Lure of Sights (2016)

Check: My Blood

Country: Lithuania

Genre: energetic post-punk

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A Canyon in the Sea - Lost Landscapes (2022)

Lost Landscapes makes a debut album not only for A Canyon in the Sea but also for the label Polawa Records. However, the Austrian artist made sure to create work that one would not associate with the word "debuting" - it's fantastic both quality- and idea-wise and should be recommended to all the fans of post-rock music.

The compositions here have an interesting trip-hop-like electronica flavour to the backgrounds while still being an absolute bliss of guitar-heavy noise (which in the final track transforms into glitchy kind of neoclassical piano backgrounds and I'm here for it!). This slow and unorthodox way of developing the compositions is actually outstanding; it's not so surprising then that the longest track such as Glass seem to have this unstoppable but never-hasty might like an incoming storm or a moving glacier.  But this is also present in the shorter ones and this is something that rarely happens. It's heavy and loud but is also more focused on generating this eery atmosphere than crushing the audience with energy. 

What should be also pointed out, this is a solo project but while many solo projects like this sound very much like a lonely guy in a bedroom with a guitar, A Canyon in the Sea managed to create a blizzard of sound that could as well be a work of a full-sized band and I appreciate it a lot.

Lost Landscapes costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: We've Met Before Haven't We

Country: Austria

Genre: atmospheric post-rock

Label: Polawa Records

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Introvert - Dreamless Sleep (2022)

Introvert is a quite a fitting moniker for an instrumental ambient/neoclassical artist. This particular one comes from the West Coast and seems to release quite a bunch of albums every year since 2020. The newest one is called Dreamless Sleep.

The music on the album is based on classical instruments but it's not some minimal, atmosphere-oriented piano/strings-only stuff. The short compositions here have the real orchestral grandeur with the full complexity of various instruments put in one track. The artist describes the album as "a soundtrack to a movie in my head as well as an exploration of the empty space in which we sleep and arise from". It's no surprise then that the album has both massive and calm, happier and darker moments, just like a movie, just like life.

Dreamless Sleep costs 7 USD.

Check: Dreamless Sleep

Country: Washington, US

Genre: orchestral neoclassical

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Letting Up Despite Great Faults - IV (2022)

I remember Letting Up Despite Great Faults from my younger years, going head to head with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart as one of my first connections to dreamy/noisy genres. After their third album, the Americans disappeared for 7 years but now they are back with the new album entitled, obviously, IV. 

Their ethereal music has some of this innocent lo-fi/twee pop vibes with dance-inviting tunes and light-weight arrangements. It's all about fun and ease of listening, especially that the music has some tropical vibes to me too. It's definitely sunny and mellow. This is only strengthened by the shy, delicate vocals by Mike Lee. The album is not long and it feels even shorter as the pop flow is strong here and ready to trap you within this dreamy torrent.

And as one could anticipate, the lyrics are mostly about love and the process of falling in love as well. The theme, however, is handled pretty tastefully with focus put on more interesting and deeper aspects like getting to understand the other person ("Did you put up a concrete wall cause you finally found someone/ I try to run across but the meaning is lost /I want to be so close to you and catch you standing there" in Gorgeous) or providing support and acceptation ("I love that you're always the one around to say it's okay/ I hope you know even my friends feel the same about you" in Gemini). Classy stuff.

IV costs 7 USD.

Check: Softly, Bravely

Country: Texas, US

Genre: dreamy indie pop

Label: New Words

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DEAD HORSE ONE - WHEN LOVE RUNS DRY (2022)

"Shoegaze on steroids" from the French Dead Horse One is having a great time and doesn't seem to slow down. After their fantastic album The West Is the Best from 2019, they are topping it with the crunchy and overwhelming sound of their new EP called WHEN LOVE RUNS DRY.

What I love about the Frenchmen is definitely their heavier approach to, let's say, dream pop. The vocals are perfectly dispersed and heavenly airy but apart from that, it's very much a heavy kind of guitar rock bordering with shoegaze and post-rock. It's Nothing, it's Asteroid, it's SOM but with this indie rock meets stoner metal and grunge twist. You can feel in your bones how crushing the guitars are; never mind the Slowdive-like vocals, it's a real avalanche of loud guitar-focused noise with clear and show-stealing drums on top of that.

The short EP, however, has also slower, moodier fragments. It's not only the lyrical ballad Mentally Homeless but also the piano version of the album's biggest banger, Static King. Whatever they do, the artists are so much on fire that everything works for them and I can't wait for more music coming from their direction.

WHEN LOVE RUNS DRY costs 6 EUR.

Dead Horse One - The West Is the Best (2019)

Check: Static King

Country: France

Genre: heavy dream pop

Label: Requiem pour un Twister / Modulor

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Basement Revolver - Embody (2022)

Four years after their full length debut Heavy Eyes, the Canadian indie rockers Basement Revolver are back with their sophomore album Embody. Their music is filled with a healthy dose of ethereal noise and as such, I feel like it fits the blog's persona very well.

The new album is filled with "bold new sounds" and as I presume it means the heavy and stoner-like guitar riffs that from time to time wreck havoc within the indie dream pop music from the Canadians. Because otherwise it's a fairly standard dream pop with its sweet melodies and slightly denser atmosphere (especially in ballads like Storm). This doesn't mean the album is not worthy your attention, quite the opposite really. The compositions are skillfully written so they encompass the perfect amount of dream pop's mood and indie rock's catchiness.

Another thing is that it's also rich lyrics-wise. The band doesn't shy away from difficult and heavy issues as they deal with "questions about identity, faith, mental illness, and sexuality" and it's well seen all over the album, from Skin ("I want to feel at home/ In my skin) up to Long Way ("Facing your fears/ Facing your body/ A vessel of substance/ That carries the blame").

Embody costs 7.5 EUR (10 CAD).

Check: Be Okay

Country: Canada

Genre: dream pop

Label: Sonic Unyon

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re​:​lapse - re​:​lapse II​.​ep (2022)

The Tokyo-based outfit re:lapse started making their music back in 2019 and since then released two EPs. The newest one, entitled as simply as it could be, is a fascinating and very dreamy take on the guitar-based dream pop.

The main characteristics of the Japanese's music must be the super airy and very sweet vocals by Kurage - there's tons of dispersing effects and ethereal backing vocals here and it couldn't sound better for a dream pop release. The second thing are very obvious and well-audible guitars that feel heavier and coarser than it usually is for such an airy music. But as they are withdrawn and hidden in the noisy backgrounds, they serve as a kind of spice that makes the whole compositions stand out from the ethereal blend. The ethereality of the album is even more striking thanks to the slower pace of the music that makes it so easy to get sucked into the dreamy landscapes as envisioned by the band.

re​:​lapse II​.​ep costs 5 USD.

Check: tonight,tonight,tonight

Country: Japan

Genre: slowcore shoegaze

Label: DREAMWAVES RECORDS

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