Opollo - Archive 1 (2023)

Jarek Leskiewicz makes the best space ambient in Poland, don't try and change my mind. The artist known for collaborating with SPC ECO's Dean Garcia among others. He is so good that even a bunch of unreleased tracks put together under the title Archive 1 deserves a closer look into.

The soundscapes Leskiewicz offers here are vast and peaceful in this particular kind of peace that can suddenly and deadly turn into a life-ending event. There are parts of the compositions that reflect that, those nervously pulsating or sonically destroyed tracks are another proof that the artist knows what he does. So even if there was no exact idea behind the whole album, the tracks stay coherent and mesmerizing in the dark but attractive way.

Archive 1 costs 4 USD.

Opollo - JAFO (2020)

Opollo - Of a Distorted Star (2017)

Check: Withdrawn

Country: Poland

Genre: space ambient

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L'ivrenoir - chap​​​.​​​10 : l'eigenlicht (2023)

There's something particularly interesting in the French scene of experimental folk/darkwave music. The new example for this statement is the Lille-based trio called L'ivrenoir who have already released some music with the newest being the EP called chap​​​.​​​10 : l'eigenlicht.

The band "shakes up the codes of narrative music by plunging the listener into a paradoxical atmosphere. A musical oxymoron from which exhales a dark light...". While the vocals are fairly standard for this kind of music (although they feel particularly close to the listener, as if an unsettling kind of ASMR), the most interesting part is the music in the backgrounds: with no traditional drums but with a clarinet instead. With this acoustic vibe but with hard to miss rhythm. With ridiculously energetic pace but with the tangible sense of darkness behind it. Something to keep an eye on, that's for sure.

chap​​​.​​​10 : l'eigenlicht costs 5 EUR.

Check: WegøtT

Country: France

Genre: darkwave folk

Label: Vailloline

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Gloam - Gloam (2022)

Gloam are from the city of Perth in Asutralia, or, as they call it, the city of Boorloo. They brought us their debut EP last December and Gloam is something certainly worth checking out.

As for an aspiring shoegaze band best fitting, Gloam aim at taking the audience "on an extensive musical journey, fluctuating between dreamy soundscapes and heavy-hitting walls of sound". Their music is very much guitar-based and there's little shoegaze-specific ways of distorting the sound, it's more about the honest, (noise) rock way of sound with psychedelic-like, hazy vocals on top of that. I really like the crunch, the texture of the rough-sounding guitars that make great impression, even though they are soften by the vocals. Perhaps the most impressive track, the EP's finish in Meanwhile adds to this picture some difficult to identify samples that sound like some angry metal music somewhere under the guitar cushions.

Gloam costs 3.5 EUR (5 AUD).

Check: Meanwhile 

Country: Australia

Genre: noise rock

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Hubris. - The One Above (2023)

Thanks to great three albums and, at least as importantly, their love for performing live (really, check out how many gigs they had last year!), the Swiss band of Hubris. worked for a label of one of the most interesting new(-ish) post-rock bands in Europe. And they are about to prove it with their fourth album called The One Above.

Their strong side is the ability to make very melodic instrumental music that doesn't lose anything from the post-rock's atmospheric vibes. The tracks are long and their complex compositions fluctuate from softer patterns that feel like some imagination-fueling short stories up to heavy, overwhelming fragments with guitar cascades that can easily crush the audience. And the story-telling part is no coincidence here. The Swiss band have a very distinct theme they like to submerge into in their music, namely, the Ancient Greek mythology and culture. This time, it's all about "exploring the works of Plato and his allegory of the cave". It's worth a while to read their interpretation or, perhaps, to try and develop yours while listening to this post-rock album of the best quality.

The One Above costs 5 EUR (5 CHF).

Hubris. - Metamorphosis (2020)

Check: Of Light

Country: Switzerland

Genre: guitar post-rock

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Give Up to Failure - COCOON (2023)

The Wrocław-based group Give Up to Failure is one of the few bands I know that successfully combine post-punk and post-rock genres. Their music is dark in two different ways and it works very well together. Three years after their debuting release Burden, they are back with something very special on COCOON.

It's really easy to sense what it meant for the band to finish this release. They state that "This album is blood, tears and rain for us (...). This album was supposed to be the beginning, and it became the end of a certain stage" and so the lineup of the outfit is going to change right now so the album is already a snapshot of the history of Polish underground music. The uniqueness of the band comes from their flexible approach to music genres. While the music is set in the extremely dark and gloomy kind of post-rock heaviness, the vocals make it closer to, depending on the song or even fragment of a song, the coldness of post-punk or the warmth of dream pop. I especially like when the soft but emotional ones lead the audience into the tear-jerking, melancholic place that is made of synthy and guitar-heavy noise (as in Sleepwalk).

The hypnotic darkness gets even more seductive in the single track Slow Collapse where the listener is enchanted by the tribal-like magical chanting. But, in truth, the whole album is mesmerizing, from the livelier beginnings to the hazy, noisy with the guitar overload finish. 

COCOON costs 6.5 EUR (30 PLN).

Give Up to Failure - Burden (2020)

Check: Slow Collapse

Country: Poland

Genre: post-punk post-rock

Label: Requiem Records

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Trystaria - On that which remains only in withering memory (2023)

The "sonic self-amelioration" project from Massachusetts called Trystaria is active on their Bandcamp for half a year now, but it didn't keep them from releasing a handful of album already. The last one is called On that which remains only in withering memory.

It is almost an hour of soft drones and lengthy ambients that create a calm and nostalgic soundscape one would love to get lost in. The minimalist music makes the whole world around you further away and less significant as you fall deeper and deeper into this meditative state filled with melancholia and ghosts from the past.

On that which remains only in withering memory costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Diadem of long-vanished anticipation II

Country: Massachusetts, US

Genre: ambient soundscape

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Liongeist - Liongeist (2023)

Although they play together for over a decade now, the Norwegian band of Liongeist hadn't had an LP released until this year they showed the self-titled album. 

The band is said to originate from the post-hardcore scene, but there's very little that reminds about it now. The album is filled with well-written post-rock music that is said to include everything from "brooding ambiance, twinkling guitars" to " heavy walls of sound and soaring melodies". And this is all true: I'd say there's too much of said twinkling guitars to my taste, but when the band decide to loose the brakes and gets into the super noisy mode (like in Third Molar), there's little to be said from the perspective of the sonically overwhelmed listener. And so the, let's say, debut of the experienced band turned out to be very... promising. 

Liongeist costs 6.5 EUR (69 NOK).

Check: Third Molar

Country: Norway

Genre: guitar post-rock

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The Leontini Vernacular - AMLA (2023)

Two years after the debut EP, Gregory Jameswood and the band he leads are back with new material released on the short album called AMLA. After certain changes in the lineup, the Bristol-based artist who some may know from another noisy band, Nossiennes, created new tracks and I have to say, they do sound really good.

It is no less and no more than a well-written noise pop. The melodies here are easy to follow, the backgrounds skillfully filled with guitar noise (so well, in fact, that some fragments sound like very noisy post-rock music) and the compositions short and dynamic. It's hard to say what's the main genre here: sometimes the music is closer to extremely catchy surf rock, sometimes it's as noisy as it gets. This flexible approach to music is only fitting when you take into consideration the album's main theme, which is "dealing with shadowy aspects of love and loss".

AMLA costs 4 USD.

Nossiennes - Vivere (2020)

Nossiennes - Liminal (2022)

Check: P F

Country: UK

Genre: noise pop

Label: Shore Dive Records

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Antonina Car - Immersed Sensibilities (2022)

Just a couple of weeks ago I posted on this blog about the new EP by Miłosz Kędra. One of the best tracks here was his duo with Antonina Car and now I'm happy to write that this fairly unknown Polish violinist/cellist released her own debut album in December last year. It is called Immersed Sensibilities and shows fantastic ability to create very artsy and very moody music.

Although Car is a violinist, her music is far from being simply a violin music. This album is filled with experiment-fueled compositions that make use of piano sounds, electronic samples and variety of instruments like violin, baritone violin, cello, keyboards, and synthesizers. And also the artist's vocals as while making the album, she grew to perceive her own voice as one of the instruments she could use. Those vocals provide some kind of melodic music framework to some parts of the album, making them into the avant-garde art pop that is as beautiful as it is experimental. But it is clear to me that Car (whose name is closer to tsar than to an automobile if anyone's wondering) aims mostly towards creating a violin-led soundscape that is more intriguing and curiosity-sparking than only melancholic as her main instrument would suggest.

Immersed Sensibilities costs 4.5 EUR (21 PLN).

Miłosz Kędra - For Aeons (2022)

Check: Reveries

Country: Poland

Genre: experimental neoclassical

Label: Time Released Sound

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FVNERALS - Let the Earth Be Silent (2023)

One of the best drone metal music projects at the moment, FVNERALS, released their third album called Let the Earth Be Silent. And this is a model example of a discography that delivers every time anything new sees the light of the day. Although, in this case, it's more about the darkness of the night.

The new album's theme is as bleak and depressive as it could be expected form the duo: they comment on the way the humanity impacts environment in the worst possible way, leading straight to the extinction event for countless species. FVNERALS turn "the emptiness of the void and the depth of the abyss" that was left in the place where many beings thrived, "into sound". There's no doubt that the band have all the tools necessary to deliver such a dark theme. Their drone metal soundscapes are heavier than the skies in autumn and don't get lighter even for a second of the album's run. There's not much of the metal-like anger and desperation, it is more about the bleak reality that everything is already lost. This dark, dark music is further enriched by the tribal elements and cold, emotionless vocals that appear from time to time in this blizzard of drones.

The duo is part of the impressive lineup of this year's Roadburn and it's one of the main reasons I'd go there.

Let the Earth Be Silent costs 6.99 USD.

Check: Barren

Country: UK

Genre: drone metal

Label: Prophecy Productions

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Marta Mist - Eyes Like Pools (2022)

Marta Mist is a music project led by two unique people: the ambient mastermind behind worriedabousatan, Gavin Miller and Sophie Green, violinist known as a member of Her name is Calla. Together they released their already third album called Eyes Like Pools at the end of last year.

 

And this cooperation is not a surprising one sound-wise: it is based on the slow, moody sounds of Green's violin and the ambient soundscapes by Miller. It's calm and melancholic, beautiful thanks to the ambient part and sad thanks to the neoclassical one. I find it also creating this kind of atmosphere that helps with focusing and self-reflecting, a very important stuff for an introvert.

Eyes Like Pools costs 7 EUR.

Check: Always On

Country: UK

Genre: violin-led soundscape

Label: sound in silence

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Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream - North (2023)

One of my favourite lesser known post-rock acts is back! Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream Six years after their fantastic album Requiem, it's finally time for continuation in a form of a false EP called North.

I say it's false because, although it's only two tracks, together they make up over half an hour of the most atmospheric kind of post-rock. It is the kind of guitar music that creates soundscapes rather than compositions, it's post-rock that is all about the overwhelming, immersive atmosphere created by guitar and string instruments. And since the songs here are so long, it's no surprise that the French know how to slowly but surely develop their music from instrumental ambient up to the post-rock's specialty: beautiful crescendos. And the title of this EP definitely is not a coincidence: this music feels like the North itself: impressive to the point of fear and beautiful to the point of tears.

North costs 9 EUR.

Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream - Requiem (2017)

Check: North

Country: France

Genre: atmospheric post-rock

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Le temps du loup - Leteo (2023)

It is already the third album from the Spanish post-rock outfit of Le temps du loup. The band are known for creating heavy music that still exists within the realms of post-rock and it now sounds better than ever.

The album's theme "revolves around ideas of choice and consequence as they relate to death and afterlife" as the album's title refers to the Greek mythology and the river the water of which made people forget about their past lives. And fittingly to the topic of death, the post-rock music here feels particularly dark. The composition are rich and ever-changing but they still feel heavy and overwhelming in some fragments, as if they were meant to show how heavy the topic is. Those moments of complete surrender to the heaviness of the guitar sounds are what I'm here for. This sound feels so tangible, as if it was a physical item you have to deal with. This rough quality reaches its peak in the impressive finish of The Bride of Belus. But the musicians don't forget that a music like this needs some space to have a proper build-up to make the overwhelming effect work as intended and it's very important.

Leteo costs 8 EUR.

Check: The Bride of Belus

Country: Spain

Genre: dark post-rock

Label: dunk!records

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ṘO - Baiagoan (2023)

ṘO are a Basque post-rock band who debuted three years ago with an album called Athalase. This year, it was the time to show their second album and Baiagoan proves that this project is one to watch when it comes to guitar-oriented post-rock music.

The artists aim to creating "musical passages full of sadness and hatred, conveying a lot of emotions", something good post-rock music should be able to do, that's for sure. And the guitar compositions the Basque band provide is quite the essence of this: calm, lazy fragments suddenly develops into sound blizzards and then die down again. Some places make a strong impression with the weight of the guitar lines (so well-done in Hapaka!) or the innovative solutions (like in Ikaror), but in general, it is a very strong, well-balanced position for post-rock fans who enjoy the traditionally guitar-heavy approach to the genre.

Baiagoan costs 8 EUR.

Check: Ikaror

Country: Spain

Genre: guitar post-rock

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Fågelle - Den svenske vreden (2023)

It seems like Scandinavian countries are a limitless source of (usually female) artists who create music that is both exceptionally artsy and utterly atmospheric. Let's not waste space here on enlisting them, it's enough to say that Klara Andersson aka Fågelle is another one who is already well-known on the European music scene. This year she came back with her sophomore album called Den svenske vreden.

Although the title translates to "the Swedish anger", anger is not something the music itself conveys here. From the music perspective, it's more a melancholic, slightly dark kind of high-brow pop music that looks for new means of expression rather than choosing the easy ways to grab the attention of the audience. So it's less about the melodic music, it's more about employing such music items as "twisted field recordings, mobile memories, digital trash, dark electronics, and howling choirs while moving between harmony and noise" to create something memorable.

And this comes with Andersson's vocals that feel so very close to the audience, never hidden behind the music background, bringing tons of emotions to the table, although it doesn't feel like an over-the-top performance. They are quite surprisingly balanced at one point by the particularly male-deep vocals by Joakim Thåström  in Kroppen, but otherwise it really feels like it's a party of one artist with all the attention drawn to her.

Den sveske vreden costs 7 EUR.

Check: Ingenting

Country: Sweden

Genre: dark electronic pop

Label: Medication Time Records

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Hammock - Love in the Void (2023)

Last week I posted about Hammock-inspired Driftless and now it's time for the OG band itself. The Americans consistently release new albums pretty frequently and it has to be stated that they are not short and never disappointing. It's the same with this year's Love in the Void.

The album is a way of breaking up with the pandemics lockdown monotony, "an album that looks to the future, seizes the present, and unabashedly relishes the experiences and bonds that bring meaning to our days" and the follow up to the most recent works of the band that were based on the feeling of grief after a loss of a close person. As always, the duo does everything from the instrumental ambient soundscapes, through loud post-rock compositions to dream pop bangers (like Undoing). The album's dreamy atmosphere lasts through all of this, creating this unique and coherent, well over an hour-long work of music. There are some heavier fragments, there are some fragments that immediately draw attention (like the clean-cut finish of Release), but with time, all the tracks blend into one, extremely oneiric whole. 

Love in the Void costs 11 USD.

Check: Release

Country: Tennessee, US

Genre: ambient post-rock

Label: Hammock Music

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YEAHRS - Transfer.Transform (2023)

The four-piece band from Berlin playing shoegaze based on very post-rock guitars, this is YEAHRS and their maybe debut album or maybe second EP called Transfer.Transform.

The quality of the guitar music that this album is based on, was the first thing I noticed. The guitars feel crunchy and the compositions well-written and complex enough to potentially function without the vocals as post-rock music. But with the dispersed, yet melodic, vocals, the album gets a lot to the oneiric experience, making it virtually a treat for shoegaze lovers. That is until it suddenly gets heavier and faster with the soothing vocals starting to coexist with post-hardcore screams. I like surprises like this. I really am looking forward to more from the Germans.

Transfer.Transform costs 5 EUR.

Check: Judgement Day

Country: Germany

Genre: shoegaze rock

Label: Night Ritual

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Theory of Ghosts - EP1 (2023)

I couldn't be happier that Piano Magic's sound lives so long after the band dissolved. Last year it was the release of Future Conditional's second album and Piano Magic's two "lost" remixes (Ovariations). This year it's the debut of Glen Johnson and Franck Alba's new project called Theory of Ghosts.

When writing about Future Conditional, I mentioned that it feels like Piano Magic with a small genre-shift. So now it sounds... basically like Piano Magic. Even the project's name comes from one of my favourite songs (taken from Disaffected) which makes clear that it is some kind of continuation - even if not the continuation of the band, certainly the continuation of the aesthetics and music philosophy. It's ghost rock once again: slowcore's pace, rock guitar compositions, dreamy vocals. This plus lyrics that feel like whole stories, gives out the essence of the old Piano Magic. The three musicians (there's also Robert Hervais-Adelman on drums) are joined by Philicorda and cello artists who make the artsy and moody part of the project even more significant.

It's good to hear that Johnson and Alba are far from retiring from music.

EP1 costs 4.5 EUR (4 GBP).

Check: When the Rain Stops

Country: UK

Genre: ghost rock

Label: Second Language Music

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Atsuko Chiba - Water, It Feels Like It's Growing (2023)

The Canadian band claim to "venturesomely cross genre-defining borders with a cohesive and hypnotic blend of post-rock, progressive rock, and krautrock, weaving together a rich sonic tapestry that subverts through offbeat songwriting". This blend of genres feels particularly impressive on their third album called Water, It Feels Like It's Growing.

The dense and steamy atmosphere is one that characterizes the band. Their music is very much guitar-oriented, often in a very prog rock way, but adds so much to their compositions. The very first thing is the use of vocals: there is a good range of various kinds of vocals, often with the use of backing vocals, making those heavy psychedelic rock vibes all over the album. These fun-fueled, colourful compositions have this energetic and engaging component accentuated very much. But the band's music can get more atmospheric, even dreamy, with Shook (I'm Often)'s oneiric vocals that fill out the spaces around the audience and Seeds' beautiful string sounds. The whole album sounds like it was taken from thee past when psychedelia and prog were more popular and I appreciate this kind of homage.

Water, It Feels Like It's Growing costs 9 EUR (9.99 CAD).

Check: Water, It Feels Like It's Growing

Country: Canada 

Genre: psychedelic prog rock

Label: Mothland

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