Sara Parkman - Aster, atlas (2026)

I know her from 2022 Funeral Folk album where she created, well, some funeral-feeling folk with her compatriot Maria W Horn. But I have never heard her solo works and this has, fortunately, changed with the release of this beautiful record. Artful pop inspired as much by folk as by the trademark Scandinavian sensibility.

The 6th album in the Swedish artist's discography is a treat for artistic folk lovers. The inspirations are pretty clear: the energetic but also mysterious vocals, the violins like from Midsommar, the choir singing as if it was recorded in a small church somewhere in the Saami country. This is Scandinavian folk. But there is so much more on Aster, atlas. In Paradiset we have some real dark notes, finally conquered by the hopeful ending. There is some spoken word, very lyric-heavy vocals thrown around through the album's landscape. And finally, my favourite (of course) song, Salikons rosor, that starts slow but successively gets more nervous and louder, up to the crescendoing, orchestral finish that resonates in your ears for a long time. Yeah, well, I'm a post-rock fan.

But I like the slower parts of the album equally much. Those melancholic, but soothing seconds of an intensive one-on-one with Parkman's voice are there to enchant the sadder parts of your souls. Also: the fact that everything is in Swedish, I language I don't speak but I recognize a lot of words, but there are also parts in Latin, is always a great sign too.

Aster, atlas costs 8 EUR (90 SEK).

Check: Salikons rosor

Country: Sweden

Genre: art folk pop

Label: Supertraditional Records

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Richard Neale - The Walls Fell (2026)

It's quite a story, while getting to write this piece, I thought of starting with saying that I hadn't heard such delicate vocals and music in a while but I checked my post on Richard Neale's 2017 album EVES and realized that it's EXACTLY what I wrote back then. And it's been almost a decade (sic!). This year, the dreamy and folky singer/songwriter from UK came back with his first longer album since... exactly 2017.

"Delicate" is an adjective you need to repeat over and over again when writing about The Walls Fell. I can hear this music as singer/songwriter acoustic guitar lyrical solo venture or a folky, nature-centred, forest-longing cry for escape, but ultimately it is all overshadowed by the utterly oneiric atmosphere that rules single-handedly on the album from the start to the final notes. The piano-based but very often built over with a range of other instruments compositions sound like coming from a dense fog in an English countryside in an early morning. And the vocals that join them are just... yes, delicate of course. Always but sometimes even more than that (King Blue!).

The album certainly feels like work of one man, although there are vocals by Karen Stally in some tracks too. But while usually I prefer a team effort in creating music, this time, it's just perfect. It gives me David Bramwell's Oddfellow's Casino (also south of England!) vibes, but even more foggy and sleepy. Love it.

The Walls Fell costs 11 EUR (9 GBP).

Check: King Blue

Country: UK

Genre: folky ambient pop

Richard Neale - EVES (2017)

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Kielichy - Punkty płonące (2026)

"Melancholia, Misanthropy, Melody", this is the whole description of the Polish project Kielichy ("Chalices"). But it's also everything it needs. The Wrocław-based band walks among alternative genres with grace, taking a lot from folk and post-punk, but ultimately creating something very, very theirs. But it's also a goodbye of some sorts.

The short EP makes the second longer entry in the band's discography after the self-titled EP from two years ago. This one feels like a continuation of the debut, but also a level up for me. Adrian Szczecina's deep voice automatically adds a lot of darkness (and darkwaveness) to the whole project that marries folk's lyrics-writing and sensibility with alternative guitar music. I must say that my favourite part of this music is the sound of the guitars here: the darkness just emanates from their low-pitched, calm but also unnerving presence. Black Heart Procession's vibes all over the place.

But also i is said that the band aims at changing their signature sound, moving away from the neofolk vibes towards... Yeah, who knows? The EP's last song, Morze Czarne ("The Black Sea") is a clear statement on this style shift. It doesn't reveal the destination, but verses like "We have to destroy some things finally/To create new places" tell a lot. I'm very curious here cause the artists clearly know how to draw inspiration from various genres to make something poignant and dark so I'm not worried. As they sing: "Let us sail. We'll find ourselves alone in the middle of the sea".

Punkty płonące costs 2.5 EUR (10 PLN).

Check: Morze Czarne

Country: Poland

Genre: darkwave neofolk

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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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Królówczana Smuga - Sport Patriotyzm Militaria (2022)

Adam Piętak systematically builds on his stage persona of Królówczana Smuga, developing the art and music behind it. The proud citizen of the eastern Poland, Piętak creates his freak folk music basing it on rough, industrial sounds - nothing changed here. However, Sport Patriotyzm Militaria is still special in some ways.

The most important one being that the new songs are more... songs than noisy tracks. There's more lyrics, more catchy melodies. The songs are now ready to be performed by the audience during the live gigs, something that wasn't so obvious before. Especially that the artist skillfully plays with the industrial melodies the whole thing is built upon, adding quirky references to traditional music (as in HUHUHA with a Polish children song played in the middle despite the track's gloomy atmosphere). Additionally, Piętak is really good at modulating his sound so there's a multitude of vocals present, often encapsulated in a single song. The music is also more saturated with little decorations like additional samples. 

Besides the curious mashup of the folk and the modern, Piętak is really good at writing lyrics. They are structured like simple folk songs, perhaps sometimes even like nursery rhymes, but the content is much less carefree. The songs handle the current situation in Poland from the social perspective (Sport Patriotyzm Militaria ("Sport Patriotism Military Equipment")) or the approach to environment as presented by the Polish government (To nie jest las dla starych drzew ("No Forest for Old Trees")) for instance. All this is filled with pop culture references - sometimes more obscure, sometimes very straightforward as covering a Polish punk band Siekiera's song that closes the album. 

Sport Patriotyzm Militaria costs 5.5 EUR (25 PLN).

Check: To nie jest las dla starych drzew

Country: Poland

Genre: industrial freak folk

Label: Requiem Records

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Darkher - The Buried Storm (2022)

Jayn Maiven creates her music as Darkher. And what a music it is! The moniker she uses is a perfect fit here as there's few music genres that can be as dark as her post-rock/dark folk creations. 6 years after her debut album Realms, the British artist is back and The Buried Storm is certainly one of the best albums of the year.

It is said that Darkher's music is a "haunting trip through the mind and spirit of founding member". It is based on Maiven's mesmerizing vocals that are never angry and desperate: their gloomines is leaning towards the utter sadness and depressive resignation. They have some serious tear-jerking abilities but they are also so beautiful. Hunting, yes, but also subtle and pretty. And the vocals are not alone here: the darkness of the compositions is built by the dark folk music with tons of post-rock and noise traces, heavy vials of ethereal backing vocals and the unnerving tribal fragments. The music is so oneiric but it's not about good dreams, a nightmare pop could be a genre invented for this release. No wonder that it is advertised as "eerie and at times even outright sinister sonic storytelling" with the artist aiming to address the "darkness lurking at the edge of consciousness, hidden from plain sight but patiently biding its time to strike out at the heart", the title's burried storm.

The Buried Storm costs 6.99 USD.

Check: Fear Not, My King

Country: UK

Genre: dreamy dark folk

Label: Prophecy Productions

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Flower and Pines - Hnieŭ (2022)

Jegor Mickiewicz and Sasha Pushkin are based in Wrocław and create this extremely unique music that combines a lot from a lot of genres. And then some. It's no wonder that the artists' names are also the names of the most important writers in Poland (Adam Mickiewicz) and in Russia (Alexander Pushkin). Their new EP, Hnieŭ, is certainly one of the most interesting releases in Poland this year.

This is not an ordinary album, it's said to be "sonic performance" that is meant to be a "memorial service and an ode to courage". The fact that it is performed in Belarusian, the forbidden language in the modern Belarus, only provides a broader context and explains whose courage it is meant to praise. The noisy and experimental on many levels music has some of the east sacral vibe that is certainly only strengthen by the impressive and very original vocals. It is folk, it is dark, there's so many things going on in the backgrounds and each of them adds to the overall mysterious atmosphere. 

Hnieŭ costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Hnieŭ II

Country: Poland

Genre: dark folk noise

Label: Geertruida

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Janusz Jurga - IST (2021)

Janusz Jurga not only has released five albums under his own name, he is also a member of the Vysoké Čelo collective and a cofounder of the Opus Elefantum label, one of the best on Polish offstream music scene. His newest album is called IST and provides us with everything we love in his music since 2018 and his debut album Duchy Rogowca.

Jurga's deep electronica/dub/techno music is, as always, filled with "dark, dense and oneiric atmosphere", similar to what one can find in dark ambient and dark folk genres. This mysterious and a little bit unnerving ambiance is seamlessly combined with deep-bass electronica making me think of the Lithuanian Giriu Dvasios, who, just like Jurga does, also draws inspirations from folk music to a high degree. Just like on his best-known release Hypnowald, Jurga decorates the electronic passages with forest-originating field recordings and this is something that couldn't fit this music better. This makes the forest dance in a rather ominous way, dance around you and everyone who's lost within. Another thing is the spoken word vocals that appear in the opening and the finishing tracks, performed by Żebyr, the lyrics make the whole album even deeper and more mysterious. Especially the very last sentence of the release: "I guess it doesn't matter what place we ended up in, we're here".

IST costs 2.5 EUR (10 PLN).

Janusz Jurga - Hypnowald (2019) EN

Check: WALD

Country: Poland

Genre: dark folk dub

Label: Opus Elefantum

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Królówczana Smuga - Żałosne (2021)

Folk-oriented but very modern lo-fi industrial music from the East corners of Poland, this is Adam Piętak and his music project that got recognized thanks to 2020's ODRAPDORAP and now is being pushed further towards the weird and mesmerizing world of Piętak's uniqueness due to the new album called Żałosne ("Lamentable"). 

Unlikeon the previous release, there's very small amounts of vocals here. Perhaps the new brand outfit with the BDSM/folk-inspired mask (yes, it's possible!) makes it particularly difficult to sing or Piętak just decided to draw special attention to something else this time. But when they show, in Sitarenka ("A Sievemaker Girl"), they are still his signature asset: somewhat spoken, somewhat shouted out, a bit metal-like, very lo-fi and mixing the folk leitmotif with Weltschmerz-induced, super unnerving lyrics. And yes, the folk roots are strong as always - the whole album's theme revolves around sitarstwo, the art of creating sieves, apparently popular back in the day in Piętak's hometown of Biłgoraj. But, as always in folk music, this is only an excuse to introduce the real theme of the album, as the artist states it, "Żałosne is an album about parting/splitting-up and the grief that comes with it". No wonder that the main message I took from those tracks is "everything is horrible!".

Further into the album, it turns out to be purely instrumental. The tone clearly sounds like it was supposed to: it's a lament of a hurt soul. And Piętak does a really good job in creating this industrial, post-apocalyptic and very, very sad atmosphere while adding folk instruments into the mix. I have no clue about those, I can't describe or name what is being used here, but you can hardly come across such a combination, very often bordering ambient/drone confusing soundscapes, that's for sure.

Żałosne costs 3.5 EUR (15 PLN).

Królówczana Smuga - ODRAPDORAP (2020)

Check: Gorzki baź

Country: Poland

Genre: industrial folk

Label: Requiem Records

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Grande Loge - Mantras (2020)

Hailing from France, Grande Loge is a collective made of former members of the metal bands Malepeste and Tower of Silence, who turned towards highly spiritual and dark ambient music. Back in Decemeber they released one, long mesmerizing trip in the form of the album called Mantras.

Their music consists of folk-inspired chanting, dark airy ambient and mesmerizing tribal parts. This thick and extremely attractive atmosphere is also the result of the use of more or less exotic instruments like buzuki, nafar, shaman drums and tanpura, as well as mantras and a very unorthodox languages, namely Ancient Greek in Hekaten. When you listen to this album, there's always something that makes you say "no way they can get more mysterious" and then it does. The atmosphere also reaches further than just the music and strongly influences their appearance which means that their live gigs must be absolute madness. In a dark and spiritual way of course.

Warning! Mind this hilarious note from their FB: "We are a group of artists, not fucking freemasons!". And remember that!

Mantras costs 7 EUR.

Check: Hekaten

Country: France

Genre: tribal dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

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Fadi Tabbal - Subject to Potential Errors and Distortions (2020) EN

I gotta say that the Ruptured Records label opened my eyes to the Middle East music experiments. It's such a fantastic feeling to listen to a good ambient work coming from some less obvious directions. And this is exactly what's going on with Fadi Tabbal, A Lebanese artist, and his new album..

As expected, there's some Middle East-sounding inspirations on the album, at least to my unprofessional ears, but what really rules the release are beautiful, long soundscapes equipped with some ethereal vibes either in the form of airy backing vocals (as in The New and Improved Guide to Birdwatching, Vol. 1 or the super exciting second part of the track) or simply the inspired, subtle noise. In some places, the music is fantastically euphoric in this ambient, nostalgic way. I don't like some atonal, experimental fragments like the finish in The Sidewalk at Night but I'd say it's a matter of taste. The whole album, really solid.

Subject to Potential Errors and Distortions costs 8 USD. 

Check: The New and Improved Guide to Birdwatching, Vol. 2

Country: Lebanon

Genre: experimental soundscape

Label: Ruptured Records

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Fadi Tabbal - Subject to Potential Errors and Distortions (2020) PL

Muszę przyznać, że label Ruptured Records otworzył mi oczy na muzyczne eksperymenty z Bliskiego Wschodu. To fantastyczne uczucie posłuchać dobrego ambientu dochodzącego z mało oczywistego kierunku. Tak jest właśnie z Fadim Tabbalem, artystą z Libanu i jego nową płytą.

Jak należało się spodziewać, na krążku jest trochę bliskowschodnio-brzmiących inspiracji, przynajmniej na moje, nieprofesjonalne ucho, ale głównie królują tu piękne, ciągnące się soundscape'y niepozbawione eterycznego vibe'u czy to w postaci chórków (w The New and Improved Guide to Birdwatching, Vol. 1 albo w niezwykle ekscytującej drugiej części utworu) czy po prostu natchnionego, subtelnego noise'u. W kilku momentach jest fantastycznie, wręcz euforycznie w ten ambientowy, nostalgiczny sposób. Mniej podobają mi się atonalne momenty na przykład w finałowym The Sidewalk at Night ale to już kwestia gustu. Cała płyta - naprawdę solidna.

Subject to Potential Errors and Distortions kosztuje 31 złotych (8 USD). 

Sprawdź: The New and Improved Guide to Birdwatching, Vol. 2

Kraj: Liban

Szufladka: experimental soundscape

Label: Ruptured Records

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Maarja Nuut & Ruum - World Inverted (2020) PL

Maarja Nuut i Hendrik Kaljujärv znany jako Ruum to duet estońskich muzyków eksperymentalnych, którzy "od zawsze przeczyli konwencjom. Przeczyli kategoryzacjom też". A mimo to można pokusić się o osadzenie ich twórczości wśród mocno inspirowanej folkiem elektroniki. Taka jest ich kolejna płyta, World Inverted.

Kraje bałtyckie w ogóle kojarzą mi się z tego typu eksperymentami, żeby wymienić projekty Giriu Dvasios i Vejopatis z Litwy. Tak czy inaczej, zawsze wynika z nich coś nadzwyczaj ciekawego i z definicji godzącego dwa różne światy. Taki jest właśnie cel tej płyty, jak wynika ze słów artystów, "każda siła ma swoje przeciwieństwo a każdy świat ma swój świat odwrotny. Naszym celem jest zmieszczenie tych dwóch przeciwieństw w jednym ciele". Mamy więc na niej piękne wokale o znakomicie metafizycznych słowach i eteryczno-folkowych chórkach, które nie stronią od mocnych, elektronicznych przekształceń, a tytułowe World Invented budzi jednoznaczne skojarzenia z Fever Ray.

Poza tym przeważają tłuste basy, ale takie niespecjalnie taneczne, raczej przytłaczające albo wprost hipnotyzujących jak w Underneath There Is. I kilka ciekawych melodii, jak ta w Cloths of Heaven ale przede wszystkim imponuje jednolita choć eksperymentalna atmosfera muzycznej awangardy. Piękna płyta.

World Inverted kosztuje 32 złote (7 EUR).

Sprawdź: World Invented

Kraj: Estonia

Szufladka: dub experimental pop

Label: Õunaviks 

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Królówczana Smuga - ODRAPDORAP (2020) PL

Adam Piętak i jego projekt to jedno z dziwniejszych rzeczy jakie wpadało mi ostatnio w ręce. Artysta łączy w swojej muzyce klimaty współczesnego lo-fi hip-hopu i ogólnie muzycznego eksperymentu z folkiem wschodniej Polski. A wychodzi to znakomicie, czego dowodem jest wydana przez Opus Elefantum piąta już płyta muzyka.

Pewnie bardziej zaciekawi ona polskich słuchaczy bo należy docenić nie tylko odkrycie dla nowego rodzaju muzyki tego bogatego w tradycje zakątka (wcześniej robił to przecież Grzegorz Ciechowski ale od tego momentu minęło już trochę czasu) ale również umiejętność zabawy słowem. Tak jak choćby w Żurawinowym wódu czy Jeżynowych zasiekach. Słowa rapowane są również w niezbyt typowy sposób, ale też co jest typowego na tej płycie? Do tego podkłady, którym najbliżej do ciężkiego industrialu i dronu zderzonego z elementami folkowymi (ludowe zaśpiewy w Żurawinowym..., charakterystyczna gitara, folkowe motywy w tekstach).

Czego na tej płycie nie ma! Natomiast w całym tym bogactwie inspiracji, najważniejsze są odwołania do ludowej tradycji, jak pisze Piętak tematem przewodnim jego projektu jest "Pamięć o historii, kulturze, tradycji, geografii, a przede wszystkim niezwykłości miejsca z którego pochodzi - Biłgoraja".

ODRAPDORAP kosztuje 10 złotych.

Sprawdź: Jeżynowe zasieki

Kraj: Polska

Szufladka: industrial folk hip-hop
Label: Opus Elefantum

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Królówczana Smuga - ODRAPDORAP (2020) EN

Adam Piętak and his project is one of the weirdest things I laid my ears on lately. The artist combines in his music the atmosphere of the modern lo-fi hip-hop and generally the experimental sounds with folk from the Eastern Poland. And it turns out to be so great as the new album, already the fifth in his discography,  released by Opus Elefantum proves.

Perhaps it's more interesting to the Polish audience as the thing to appreciate is not only the way this tradition-filled geographic area is discovered for a new kind of music (it's been done before by Grzegorz Ciechowski and his project Grzegorz z Ciechowa) but also the ability to bend words. As for example in Żurawinowe wódu ("Cranberry Voodoo" or "Vodka") or Jeżynowe zasieki ("Blackberry Entanglements") . The lyrics are also rapped in a very peculiar way but also what's normal on this album really? Plus the backgrounds that are closest to industrial and drone married with folk elements (this folk chanting in Żurawinowe..., characteristic guitar, folk themes in lyrics).

There's everything here! But in this rich inspirations, the most important one is referencing the tradition, as Piętak says the clue of his project is: "Remembering the history, culture, tradition, geography and, most importantly, the uniqueness of the place he's from - the town of Biłgoraj".

ODRAPDORAP costs 3 EUR (10 PLN).

Check: Jeżynowe zasieki

Country: Poland

Genre: industrial folk hip-hop
Label: Opus Elefantum

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Vysoké Čelo - Űrkutatás (2020) EN

For anyone who follows what the Opus Elefantum label does, Vysoké Čelo is nothing new. The artists, among whom there is also Janusz Jurga who appears on the blog from time to time, released already four albums and the fifth one joined in June. So let's listen to Űrkutatás.

The band's music makes a super rich mix. They draw something from ambient, something from folk, something from psychedelia, something from traditional rock (hey, II makes a really good song with the South States vibes), something from coldwave (hey, the second part of II makes a good song with wave vibes). And it's possible to go on listing those influences for a while, it's very difficult to close the band within any possible genre. And then, there's also a ton of different vocals, various moods - only in IV it ranges from sparky keys/glockenspiel and unnerving new age up to an airy finish.

Yeah, you can't get bored with the Poles.

Űrkutatás costs 2.5 EUR.

Janusz Jurga - Hypnowald (2019) EN

Check: II

Country: Poland

Genre: eclectic psychedelic folk
Label: Opus Elefantum

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Vysoké Čelo - Űrkutatás (2020) PL

Vysoké Čelo dla każdego, kto śledzi poczynania labelu Opus Elefantum, nie jest zespołem nowym. Artyści, wśród których jest też pojawiający się na moim blogu Janusz Jurga, mają na koncie już cztery albumy, a piąty dołączył do nich w czerwcu. Posłuchajmy więc Űrkutatás.

Muzyka zespołu to bardzo bogata mieszanka. Czerpią trochę z ambientu, trochę z folku, trochę z psychodelii, trochę z bardziej tradycyjnego rocka (ej, II to całkiem dobra kompozycja w stylu Południowych Stanów), trochę z zimnej fali (ej, druga część II to całkiem dobra kompozycja w wave'owym stylu). Na pewno można by tak wymieniać jeszcze długo, bardzo ciężko zamknąć styl zespołu w jakichkolwiek ramach. Do tego dochodzi tona różnych wokali, różnych nastrojów - w samym tylko IV od roziskrzonych klawiszy/dzwonków przez niepokojący new age po wręcz eteryczny finał. 

No, nie sposób się z Polakami nudzić.

Űrkutatás kosztuje 10 złotych (2.5 EUR).

Janusz Jurga - Hypnowald (2019) PL

Sprawdź: II

Kraj: Polska

Szufladka: eclectic psychedelic folk
Label: Opus Elefantum

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Passepartout Duo - Vis​-​à​-​Vis (2020) PL

Czasami muzyka danego projektu jest tylko trochę bardziej zaskakująca od historii samych artystów. Tak jest w przypadku szwajcarskiego duetu Passepartout Duo, którego muzykę na synthy, dzwonki, instrumenty perkusyjne oraz "przenośny zestaw instrumentów zaprojektowany i skonstruowany przez zespół z drewna i złomu zebranego na ulicach Genewy" można podziwiać na pierwszym LP zatytułowanym Vis​-​à​-​Vis.

Pianistka Nicoletta Favari i perkusista Christopher Salvito nagrali swój materiał w wielu miejscach na trasie Szwajcaria-Chiny, a jako jedną z inspiracji podają właśnie podróże. Nic dziwnego, że w ich muzyce roi się od różnych inspiracji i naleciałości. Bo z jednej strony mamy miejscami bardzo brudny i noise'owy ambient, z drugiej dominują dźwięki dzwonków i brzmiących bardzo orientalnie klawiszy. Nie jest to twój typowy album neoklasyczny, a jednak i do niej sięgają inspiracje.

Płyta to dwa kawałki podzielone dla wygody na sekcje. Oba w tym samym, uwodzącym minimalistycznym tonie. Cały projekt przez wzgląd na swoją oryginalność zasługuje na najwyższą uwagę. 

Vis​-​à​-​Vis kosztuje 28 złotych (6 EUR).

Sprawdź: Heartwood (Section 3)

Kraj: Szwajcaria

Szufladka: eclectic neoclassicism/ambient
Label: AnyOne

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Passepartout Duo - Vis​-​à​-​Vis (2020) EN

Sometimes a project's music is only a bit more interesting than the artists' story. This is the case of the Swiss Passepartout Duo whose music on synths, glockenspiel, percussion instruments and "a portable set of instruments designed and built by the duo out of scrap wood and metal found on the streets of Geneva" can be admired on their first LP called Vis​-​à​-​Vis. 

The pianist  Nicoletta Favari and drummer Christopher Salvito recorded the album in several places on their way from Switzerland to China and the traveling makes one of their musical inspirations. No wonder that there's so much various influences there. Because on one hand there's some very dirty and noisy ambient, on the other, the dominant are glockenspiel sounds and keys sounding somewhat oriental. Its' not your typical neoclassical album but it goes to this genre as well. 

The album consists of two pieces out of convenience divided into more tracks. Both with the same, minimalist and seducing vibes. the whole project due to its uniqueness deserves the highest attention. 

Vis​-​à​-​Vis costs 6 EUR.

Check: Heartwood (Section 3)

Country: Switzerland

Genre: eclectic neoclassicism/ambient
Label: AnyOne

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Деревянные киты - Супер (2019) PL

Деревянные киты czyli "Drewniane Wieloryby" pochodzą z Murmańska za kołem podbiegunowym, czego nikt słuchając jedynie ich muzyki nie mógłby zgadnąć. Ich nowa płyta Супер ("Super") pokazuje fantastycznie dynamiczne i po prostu ładne podejście do około-shoegaze'owego grania.

Piszą, że zaczynali grać shoegaze, ale coś poszło nie tak i teraz tworzą "mieszaninę nastrojów i gatunków, od psychodelii po energetyczny dream pop". Pierwsze co rzuca się w uszy jest oczywiście wokal Swietłany Matwiejewej pełen bezpretensjonalnej radości przywodzącej na myśl jednocześnie folkowe podśpiewywanie jak i teatralne performanse. Nadaje to muzyce Rosjan baśniowej wręcz otoczki, która pasuje jak ulał do nazwy, cover artu i całej reszty.

Także muzyce daleko jest od tradycyjnego shoegaze'u/dream popu. Bardziej pasowałaby szufladka psychodeliczny pop, taki który nie ogłusza i nie rzuca się przesadnie w uszy i raczej jest ładnym uzupełnieniem tekstów i wokalu. Ale to żadna ujma, zwłaszcza jeśli chodzi o takie rzeczy jak afrykańskie rytmy w Вода, soczysty riff w mojej ulubionej Саванна, czy całokształt w Огни.

Супер kosztuje 28 złotych (7 USD).

Sprawdź: Саванна

Kraj: Rosja

Szufladka: psychedelic pop

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