SEIMS - V (2025)

The Australian project SEIMS is an exciting answer to a dilemma: can post-rock music be artsy and atmospheric at the same time. Yes it can. The band that is usually connected to such genres as math rock and post-rock, released their probably fourth album called V, four years after another great release: their probably third album called Four. MATH rock. Q.E.D.

Jokes aside, although their music is mostly instrumental and very much guitar-focused, it's difficult o call them "simply post-rock". The complexity of their compositions and the approach characterized by melodic, isolated guitar sequences (I know it's not true, but those make me think of some flamenco or fado music in some places) suggest to me that we deal with art rock that somehow has been deprived of vocals along the process. But then, the artsy is suddenly overwhelmed by the loud and heavy, making a perfect case for art-post-rock music.

A separate word should be said about Forever the Optimist, my highlight of the album. I love how it starts with slower, elaborate guitar dance and slowly growing into the energetic finish fueled by chanting, a rare sight on the release. It also sums up the overall mood of the album: in the times when post-rock (and really all the music I listen to) gets dark and apocalyptic, the sound here is bright and optimistic. And if I like it like this, it's a sign that it's very well done.

V costs 6 EUR (10 AUD).

Check: Forever the Optimist 

Country: Australia

Genre: art-post-rock

SEIMS - FOUR (2021)

SEIMS - 3.1 (2019) 

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Hand to Earth - Ŋurru Wäŋa (2025)

This is a special project, you can see it in the album title in Wáglilak language, you can see it in the multi-ethnic line-up and the music itself. The latter can be only described as world music meeting dark ambient and this thought alone would make me very excited to try these sounds.

There is a lot to read about the album (and I recommend doing so on the project's Bandcamp page), but the main things are that sense of belonging and the notion of home are the main themes here. This cannot be a surprise since the members of the projects come from very different places. However, whenever this happens, people very soon discover that it doesn't matter at all as their home can easily encompass entire planet.

There are Korean poems and singing in one of the native Australian tongues that represent the folk/world music part and the minimalist, dark but also quite surprisingly uplifting and soothing backgrounds that add up to the ambient part of the music. The effects are mesmerizing, especially that they are fueled by the use of various (and so different from each other) instrument as the music here is "written in the scribble of electronics, in the sighs of the clarinet and trumpet, in the broad brush strokes of the yidaki, and the snap of the bilma" (kudos to those of you who know what those are, I didn't). 

Ŋurru Wäŋa costs 9 USD.

Check: Gaḏayka

Country: Australia, South Korea

Genre: dark world music

Label: Room40

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All Is Violent - Monolith of Becoming (2025)

Talking about the most obvious inspirations used in band's names, the Australian post-rockers of All Is Violent are certainly up there, among the top (maybe after Sugar for the Pill). But interestingly enough, the omitted part of the phrase, "...All Is Bright" is omitted on purpose as their instrumental music is all but bright.

Ad if you know me already, I don't look for the bright in post-rock. So this year I didn't care about you, infinite, but I do care about this unassuming EP from the other end of the world. As expected, nothing here is bright, but everything is violent. The pace and the hit produced by the guitar compositions take the audience away like rapids on a mountain stream from the very first notes. The sounds feel dark and not very approachable, ready to hurt you more than heel you. But sometimes you need this as well. There is a brief moment of peace in Where Knowing Else, but it's short and you know that it will be proceeded by another storm of sounds.

Unfortunately, it's so fast and so short that it's gone way too early. But if you write a thing like this, it's generally a good thing I think?

Monolith of Becoming costs 6 EUR (10 AUD).

Check: Where Knowing Else

Country: Australia

Genre: rapid post-rock

ALL IS VIOLENT - Cartographers Of Human Purpose (2019)

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Solkyri - Cranebrook (2025)

The Australian post-rock icons decided to change what we know them of and instead of the melodic guitar-based music, on their new album they put the weight on the minimal but meaningful atmosphere, making Cranebrook sounding more like an instrumental ambient release.

Let's quote the band themselves: "we made something different. It’s slow, at times it’s really slow, but it allows a moment of reflection, a chance to stand still and importantly, rest". And so the tracks are quiet, acoustic, making me think of a slow Sunday somewhere in the country side drowning in sunlight. The acoustic guitar, piano keys and violins make the sound carefree and filled with light which interestingly contrasts the cover art which looks like the band wanted to show how they destroyed the concept of the previous album, Mount Pleasant. Instead of the violent destruction, however, the change seems to be smoother. I'd think of it as a house slowly devoured by the lush green than crumbled from some disastrous blows.

Anyway, the change is clear. "This is a brave leap, but it is one that we are proud to take" add the band members and I'm curious to see if that's the direction they will go in the future as well. I'd be very happy if the answer is yes.

Cranebrook costs 6 EUR (10 AUD).

Check: I Guess I'll Be Leaving Now

Country: Australia

Genre: instrumental ambient

Solkyri - Mount Pleasant (2020)

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Tjaktjadálvve - Echoes on a Windswept Plain (2023)

The Australian-born and Sweden-based artist known as Tjaktjadálvve is the new addition to the Italian post-metal-oriented label Flowing Downward. His new, and as it seems, debut LP called Echoes on a Windswept Plain is kept in the crushingly noisy but ethereally beautiful atmosphere.

It's fast, it's loud and it's airy: the music on the album check all the must-haves of a good blackgaze sound. The incredible flow of the tracks, heavy guitars and the black metal vocals go together splendidly, making one, coherent, brutally beautiful sound. The long composition don't waste too much time to peak and then, the deafening, synth-rich sound goes on and on, making the audience stun for long minutes. Those longer compositions are divided by shorter breaks to catch some breath and create even more atmosphere, only to go on again with the beautiful noise on the other side of the sonic valley.

Echoes on a Windswept Plain costs 4 EUR.

Check: Echoes on a Windswept Plain

Country: Australia/Sweden

Genre: blackgaze

Label: Flowing Downward

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Aphir - The Halo Is Shapeless (2023)

Becki Whitton aka Aphir is an Australian artist whom I remember from the brilliant 2020 album called Republic of Paradise. This year's The Halo Is Shapeless is already her 6th release and it is filled with super airy, vocal-centered dreamy compositions.

This is no exaggeration: there's barely any sound on the album that isn't Whitton's angelic voice. As the label states, there are two modes the artist works in: "intricate and often dark experimental pop, and lush choral works" and so the new album definitely represents the second one. While working on the album, Whitton contemplated cataclysm and devastating events that can happen in one's life, but the compositions on the album don't have anything from the hopeless nihilism, instead, "they’re kind of like a soothing voice leading you through a change of state": beautiful and giving hope.

The compositions can sometimes undergo some glitchy, nervous treatment, but it's very rare. This album was designed to calm your nerves and offer a soundtrack for the process of self-reflection.

The Halo Is Shapeless costs 7.5 EUR (12 AUD).

Check: A Grassy Road

Country: Australia

Genre: vocal-oriented dreamscape

Label: Art As Catharsis

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Oceans - Dreamers in Dark Cities (2023)

The Australian Oceans, who are known for "fusing various genres together to create unique sonic landscapes inspired by ambient, new wave and 90s shoegaze", have appeared on my blog already when in 2022 they were part of the split release with the British band Wilt. And finally, they managed to release their debut album this year with Dreamers in Dark Cities being a fantastic take on the melodic shoegaze music.

This is the kind of music that fills a need for the atmospheric blessing and the melodic energy. The compositions are very much based on the distinct bass line that can be particularly fast while the heavy, fuzzy guitars around it give slower, more monumental vibes. This is, traditionally one can say, balanced by very ethereal and dreamy double, male and female, vocals (sometimes more uniquely sounding like in parts of Feels Like You, but usually following the genre's style guides). This balance is usually tilted in favour of the lighter, more melodic side of the project and it feels right for the band, although I'd be curious to hear them in heavier, more shoegazey compositions too (like in the final track of the album).

Dreamers in Dark Cities costs 7 USD.

Wilt & Oceans - Wilt (2022)

Check: Feels Like You

Country: Australia

Genre: atmospheric noise pop

Label: Shelflife

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Svntax Error - The Vanishing Existence (2023)

Coming from Sydney, Australia, the "psychedelic post-rock for the apocalypse" from the band of Svntax Error brings some unexpected developments on the post-rock music front line. The band's new album, The Vanishing Existence, is the second in their discography and it proves that the artists feel more and more comfortable with the music they make.

The first thing one notices about their music is the synthy, psychedelic sound that exists besides the guitar and drums. This is actually theremin, one of the most mysterious instrument out there. It gives this mesmerizing, otherworldly taste to the compositions which, to make the effect more striking, are not very fast, the pace is steady and, in turn, hypnotizing. This is complimented with the melodic, indie rock-like vocals that transform some of the tracks into psychedelic rock gems.

The album is written to investigate the "themes of loss in all its myriad forms and the human, emotional and physical responses they inspire" which, with the overall sound of the album, makes a rather gloomy impression. The band is going to appear on this year's dunk!festival in Ghent and I can't wait to see them live there!

The Vanishing Existence costs 6 EUR (10 AUD).

Check: Backwards Through the Storm

Country: Australia

Genre: theremin psychedelic rock

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Penelope Trappes - Heavenly Spheres (2023)

With her fourth album, Penelope Trappes, most probably the best ambient pop artist out there, continues with her ultimately ethereal way of creating music. Surprisingly NOT titled "Penelope Four", Heavenly Spheres 

The artist is a queen of combining extremely dark, gothic and post-industrial ambient soundscapes with extremely airy vocals. There melodies here are almost non-existent, but it's on purpose: vocals are yet another way of creating the unbelievably eerie atmosphere of the compositions. And it's a vital part as the album is kept in a very minimalist way: it was created with "only [the artist's] voice, an upright piano and an old German reel to reel tape deck". The result are even more unnerving then typically with her music. Even if there are field recordings of spring-inspired bird chirping, Penelope Trappes can still transform the ultimate symbol of life into moody darkness.

The album was created during  two-week residency for Britten Pears Arts that made it possible for the artist to embrace a particular way of creating her music. As she stated: "I immersed myself in solitude and often deafening silence, and coexisted with an enormous amount of history and books" and I feel like you can really hear it on this album.

Heavenly Spheres costs 8 EUR (7 GBP).

Penelope Trappes - Penelope Three (2021)

Check: A Seagull Learns to Sleep Alone

Country: Australia/UK

Genre: ambient pop

Label: Nite Hive

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Relay Tapes - Debris (2023)

Jade Tyers of Brisbane, Australia makes his music under the moniker of Relay Tapes. On Debris, their third ever EP, Tyers shows an impressive take on the noisier and heavier kind of noise pop.

Although it is a solo project, it's definitely hard to guess volume-wise. Tyer's music can be downright loud and noisy when it is necessary. The guitar sounds have this nice, crunchy texture that can feel really overwhelming at times, but they give way for the calm, dreamy vocals most of the time. There's a good dose of acoustic guitar here as well, especially when the songs gradually turn more into moody ballads and even industrial/ambient soundscapes (in Debris). 

Debris costs 2 EUR (3 AUD).

Check: Street Scene

Country: Australia

Genre: solo noise rock

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Flyying Colours - You Never Know (2023)

The Melbourne-based band of Flyying Colours seem to have their reliable way of creating very catchy and engaging noisy music. They proved it once again on their third album ever called You Never Know. 

This is this kind of noise music that certainly is very melodic but this feature is often lost, on purpose, in the sea of lo-fi guitar noise. It's rather slow and aims more likely to the audience's heart than to their legs and other dancing parts of a body. The guitars are toned down, although, if you focus well enough, they give out how powerful they could become. But that's not the point: the guitar noise accompanies the sweet melodies and even sweeter vocals that lead the way through the catchy compositions. In general, the Australians' dreamy music ranges from very twee-like songs to a bit rougher, but still very melodic pieces.

You Never Know costs 12 EUR (10 GBP).

Check: Never Forget

Country: Australia

Genre: lo-fi noisy indie pop

Label: Club AC30/Poison City

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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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ourhomeisthesky - Reflections (2022)

The Tasmanian artist, known only as ourhomeisthesky, released his first EP under this moniker with the Scottish label vaporgaze back in August. And I must say, although his music has not the highest quality of sound, the compositions here are fantastic and based on pretty interesting music ideas.

The first track gives more instrumental ambient vibes with the use of subtle drones and the beautiful piano keys, but it soon turns into more sinister way with the marching-like pace and metal guitars in the backgrounds. Those electronic guitar sounds transferred to the compositions' back rows are a theme on the album, but what is layered onto them, changes from track to track. Deserted introduces the melancholic vocals, early Crippled Black Phoenix-style, that eventually evolve into full-blown blackgaze distant screams. The further the album gets, the more metal-like the guitars become and it's clear that the Australian artist aims at creating the moodier but also quieter kind of (post-)metal music.

Reflections costs 2.5 EUR (4 AUD).

Check: breathe

Country: Australia

Genre: lo-fi blackgaze

Label: vaporgaze

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Grazer - Melancholics Anonymous (2022)

Two years ago, Matt and Mollie, two artists from Australia, showed their first EP to the world and so debuted also on this blog. This summer, they released their first long play and it's as much sunny fun as ever, although the album is actually titled Melancholics Anonymous.

Grazer is a perfect choice for anyone who is interested in unassuming melodies, minimal arrangements and warm and beautiful vocals. It's this kind of indie pop that is delivered through the dreamy and very subtly noisy filters; it feels very authentic and intimate, also thanks to the bedroom pop-like approach: it's simple and engaging. Besides the lazily uplifting music, the duo turns into more melancholic way in the lyrics: there's a lot of loneliness and existential fears, doubts and absurdity of life, everything so universal and relatable for all of us. This melancholical-indie pop balance goes on for the whole album, except for I Want Control where, with the change of the vocals, it suddenly gets more indie rock-like guitar-oriented and catchy - but really, it's just a wink to the audience, everything gets back to Grazer's normal very soon.

Melancholics Anonymous costs 9 USD.

Grazer - Grazer (2020)

Check: These Days (Pass Me By)

Country: Australia

Genre: dreamy indie pop

Label: Cascine

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Wilt & Oceans - Wilt (2022)

Wilt are from Manchester, Oceans from Melbourne, but despite this obvious challenge as well as the pandemics' difficult reality, they manage to successfully finish their collaboration with a brilliant EP called Wilt. Which is especially impressive as it's the British outfit's debut release.

The three artists of Wilt dealt with music while Thomas Lee and Mayzie Cocco Wallen of Oceans are responsible for the dreamy vocals here. The results are extremely airy and utterly dreamy. The heavy guitars create a multidimensional space within which the listener is closed but can only appreciate this fact while the music rocks around them. It is a mesmerizing blend of heavy guitars and ethereal atmosphere. The latter is obviously very much dependent on the vocals and the vocalized backgrounds. It really makes me think of White Flowers and their sound - the vocals are what dream pop is meant for but there's also place for fresh and juicy stuff. It's probably best audible in my personal favourite, Blank Field, a beautiful song in which all the elements work: heaviness, ethereality and catchiness.

Wilt costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Blank Field

Country: UK/Australia

Genre: dreamy shoegaze

Label: Shelflife 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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Seven Hour Days - Coast to the Clouds (2022)

Seven Hour Days is Steve Matzkov, an Australian artist known from projects like The High Impedance, Dobson & Fitch and Matzal. This time, he released his new album called Coast to the Clouds via Shore Dive Records and filled with a lo-fi, fantastically engaging shoegaze sounds.

The compositions here are very noisy with this lo-fi kind of guitar noise that makes everything sounds very garage-like and very honest at the same time. There's a solid dose of pedal effects everywhere and the overall vibe of the EP surely makes you think of the early shoegaze era. Especially that the vocaloid-provided vocals are highly psychedelic, often used more as an additional instrument then actually a vehicle for lyrics and these are the parts I appreciate the most. Especially that the whole MBV-like guitar experimentations that fill the speakers are of the best kind, as it is the case in my personal favourite, Stay Away

Coast to the Clouds costs 5 USD.

Check: Stay Away

Country: Australia

Genre: lo-fi shoegaze

Label: Shore Dive Records

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Hope Drone - Husk (2021)

The Australian band Hope Drone works as a collective for some time now (10 years!), but recently they found they needed some change in their sound and this change (make their music and their name more fitting together) is something that turned me back to them with their new album Husk being a really solid take on offstream metal.

As far as I remember, the band's previous releases didn't quite strike a chord with me "Strange times call for new perspectives and the chaos of the last few years has given rise to our new release where we set out to experiment" - this change of sound involves putting more focus on bass and drums at the expense of guitars and vocals that got transferred more into the backgrounds. This made their music more ambient/drone metal with its hazy atmosphere and soundscape-like values. And even that the pace of drums is usually very much black metal, the general impression left by their music is the massiveness and weight. The album consists of four tracks only, but they are long enough and written in such a way to slowly develop and impress the audience with heavy and satisfying finishes (so well-done in Existere) and leave it wanting even more.

Husk costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Existere

Country: Australia

Genre: drone metal

Label: Moment of Collapse Records

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SEIMS - FOUR (2021)

Simeon Bartholomew is the conceptual leader of the Australian experimental post-rockers from SEIMS. The band bought me two years ago with their shorter album 3.1 and now they show their fourth, particularly crazy album. 

Although the release is advertised as mathrock drawing a lot from the music of 65daysofstatic and such, the first thing one notices about the band's music is the use of neoclassical instruments (violins and cellos). It's pretty special as they don't serve as only romantic ornaments, the whole compositions are based on them; there's little to none heavy guitar walls of noise; in this aspect, the Australians make extremely artsy and jazzy music. Of course the mathrock references are not a mistake here; those delicate instruments create a real madness here: the paces change, the melodies are subjective, the next part of a composition is anyone's guess. And this is all created by music that in many places feels practically orchestral (the louder parts of Stranded. Isolated. for instance) and less frequently, surprisingly guitar-heavy (Biting Tongues and The Mountain's Scream).

The album was mixed and mastered by people from the very top of the Australian post-rock society and it can be felt in the music's quality. The album is said to include their most "engaging and hypnotic material" to date and it surely feels the most experimental, one the artists had a lot of fun when making. And judging by their modus operandi, I can bet money on that the next album will be titled V.

FOUR  costs 10 AUD.

SEIMS - 3.1 (2019)

Check: Biting Tongues

Country: Australia

Genre: artsy mathrock

Label: Art As Catharsis

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FRITZ - Pastel (2021)

Hailing from Australia (not Austria, which in the context of the project's name may be confusing), Fraser Marshall creates some hazy and danceable tunes. She makes the best of bedroom pop atmosphere and shoegazey noise, combining both into something more. Just like on her second album (or the first studio album) called Pastel.

The two main factors here are the melodies and the noisy atmosphere. You can't really choose what's more important. The songs are extremely melodic and light-weight, making the audience want to dance and fill their hearts with some Australian sun. On the other hand, everything is kept within the hazy realm of shoegaze's derivatives. The whole thing reminds me very much of Tiny Fireflies with more of the dream-pop-like vocals. The songs are short and very fast, this is the most surprising part as the moody gazey vibes don't make this music melancholic or dark. Just pure and carefree fun, it's clear that the artist wanted to talk about "[her] upbringing, [her] adolescence, [her] friends, family and [her] whole goddamn life" without any unnecessary complications and this is so cool and pure.

Pastel costs 10 AUD.

Check: Gracie, Forgive Me

Country: Australia

Genre: noisy indie pop

Label: Inertia Music

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