Category: post rock

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: EYRE LLEW Returns with Cinematic “Bloom”

Initially conceived as a studio project back in 2014, Nottingham, UK-based trio EYRE LLEW — Sam Heaton (vocals, guitar), Jack Clark (drums, piano) and Jack Bennett (guitar, piano) — have developed and honed a sound that meshes elements of shoegaze, post rock and dream pop and channels influences like Sigur Rós, Frightened Rabbit, Bon Iver and The National into cinematic, emotionally overwhelming soundscapes. 

2017’s debut album, Atelo was released to widespread critical acclaim with the album landing at #25 on Drowned in Sound‘s Top 100 Albums List of 2017. 

During that same period, the Nottingham-based trio also established themselves as a compelling live act, playing over 300 independently booked shows across 23 countries, including sold-out shows across their native UK, the European Union, Latvia, Lithuania and Asia. Adding to a growing profile, the trio made the rounds of the national festival circuit playing sets at Glastonbury‘s John Peel Stage, The Great Escape, Dot to Dot, FOCUS Wales, Y Not Festival, Ritual Union, Rockaway Beach, Alternative Escape, Handmade, Glastonbury’s Shagrai La, Icebreaker, Perth Music Expo, 110 Above, Beat The Streets, Splendour, Riverside, On The Waterfront, Farm Fest, A Carefully Planned, Hockley Hustle, and others. Internationally, they’ve played sets at Singapore’s Music Matters, Taiwan’s Beastie Rock, South Korea’s Zandari Festa, Germany’s Umsonst Und Dresden, France’s FIMU, Belgium’s Fifty Lab, Sweden’s Future Echoes, Lithuania’s Zagare Fringe Festival and What’s Next In Music, Hungary’s HOTS Outbreakers Lab, Latvia’s Riga Music Week, Estonia’s POFF Shorts, Poland’s Seazone Music Festival and Conference and SpaceFest. 

EYRE LLEW’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Bloom is slated for a September 18, 2026 release through Penance Music Group. The new album is deeply informed and influenced by pandemic-enforced quarantines and lockdowns.

For the bulk of their time as a band, they defined themselves by seemingly constant motion: Cities blurred into one another. Border crossings were routine. Their lives revolved around airports, late night drives, ferry ports, backstage rooms, festival fields, hotel corridors and long-distance journeys. As a touring band, success, such as it exists, was often measured in miles traveled, crowd size and momentum developed and sustained.

They kept moving because that’s how it always was. As countless touring bands would view it, slowing down would mean — on some level, at least — slowed momentum. And stopping would mean accepting failure, when “making it” seemed to be just within their grasp.

Much like countless other touring acts across the globe, the pandemic managed to dismantle their trajectory. That relentless forward motion that had shaped their identity for the better part of a decade just suddenly stopped. Tours vanished. Plans dissolved. The result was an uneasy silence. Understandably, for the trio, it was devastating.

But in the stillness, something else emerged for the band — space: The space to rest, reflect, recover, feel and importantly, to make different choices. The band made a quieter, more human recalibration, shifting away from survival to towards sustainability. Rather than constantly feeling that they had to prove something, they moved towards building something — and choosing meaning over the endless chase of momentum. 

The result was Bloom. Written during lockdown and the subsequent years, the album is about several things simultaneously: presence, the love that feels like home, stillness as strength, devotion without spectacle, grief without melodrama, healing without performative optimism, growth that happens slowly, privately and honestly. 

Whereas their previously released material was frequently defined by scale and endurance, Bloom‘s material is defined by intimacy and grounding. Its songs are built from small moments rather than big, grand statements. It’s about choosing to stay. Not just in relationships but in places, in moments, in emotions and in identity. 

The shift in the band’s approach, fittingly led to a shift in their sound. While the album’s material continues to carry the vastness they’re known for, it lives alongside of a sense fragility and restraint. Instead of actively attempting to overwhelm the listener, the band is trying to meet the listener where they are right now. 

The album will include the previously released “Miningsby” and the album’s second single, album title track “Bloom.” While being incredibly cinematic, “Bloom” captures the contented sigh of a hard-won, well-deserved intimacy, describing the couple at the core of the song as flowers blooming, which is remarkably fitting for the season.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Cardiff’s FORT Shares Expansive and Stormy “From Sullen Earth”

Over the course of their nine year history, Cardiff-based post rock quartet FORT — Ben Hooper, Matthew Moore, Gavin O’Driscoll and Craig Prosser — have developed an instrumental post rock sound inspired by Caspian, And So I Will Watch You From Afar, Mogwai, 65daysofstatic, sleepmakeswaves, This Will Destroy You and Russian Circles.

The band employs driving bass lines and soaring guitars to convey emotion, while taking the listener on a journey.

The Welsh quartet’s recently released full-length debut, A Token of Our Depreciation is also sadly, their last. The band’s members decided it was time for the band to call it a day and to move on from it separately. But as they explain, “we poured everything into this release and truly proud of what we have created.”

A Token of Our Depreciation single “From Sullen Earth” is an atmospheric and expansive song featuring a swirling shoegazer guitar-driven melody, thunderous . .. And Justice For All and Black Album-like drumming and some big, heavy metal-like riffage. Sonically bearing a resemblance to Mogwai and Collapse Under The Empire among others, “From Sullen Earth” is a bruising yet cinematic composition that conveys a deep sensitivity and beauty, much like watching a storm brewing on the horizon.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: EYRE LLEW Shares Painterly “Miningsby”

Initially conceived as a studio project back in 2014, Nottingham, UK-based trio EYRE LLEW — Sam Heaton (vocals, guitar), Jack Clark (drums, piano) and Jack Bennett (guitar, piano) — have developed and honed a sound that meshes elements of shoegaze, post rock and dream pop and channels influences like Sigur Rós, Frightened Rabbit, Bon Iver and The National into cinematic, emotionally overwhelming soundscapes.

2017’s debut album, Atelo was released to widespread critical acclaim with the album landing at #25 on Drowned in Sound‘s Top 100 Albums List of 2017.

And during that same period, the Nottingham-based trio have also established themselves as a compelling live act, playing over 300 independently booked shows across 23 countries, including sold-out shows across the UK, Europe, The Baltics (Latvia and Lithuania) and the Far East. The trio have also made the rounds of both the national and international festival circuit, playing sets at Glastonbury‘s John Peel Stage, The Great Escape, Dot to Dot, FOCUS Wales, Y Not Festival, Ritual Union, Rockaway Beach, Alternative Escape, Handmade, Glastonbury’s Shagrai La, Icebreaker, Perth Music Expo, 110 Above, Beat The Streets, Splendour, Riverside, On The Waterfront, Farm Fest, A Carefully Planned, Hockley Hustle, and others. Internationally, they’ve played sets at Singapore’s Music Matters, Taiwan’s Beastie Rock, South Korea’s Zandari Festa, Germany’s Umsonst Und Dresden, France’s FIMU, Belgium’s Fifty Lab, Sweden’s Future Echoes, Lithuania’s Zagare Fringe Festival and What’s Next In Music, Hungary’s HOTS Outbreakers Lab, Latvia’s Riga Music Week, Estonia’s POFF Shorts, Poland’s Seazone Music Festival and Conference and SpaceFest.

Building upon a growing profile, EYRE LLEW’s highly anticipated sophomore album Bloom is deeply informed and influenced by pandemic-enforced lockdowns. For the bulk of their history, the band defined themselves by seemingly constant motion: Cities blurred into one another. Border crossings were routine. Their lives revolved around airports, late night drives, ferry ports, backstage rooms, festival fields, hotel corridors and long-distance journeys.

As a touring band, success, such as it existed, was often measured in miles traveled, crowd size and momentum developed and sustained. The band kept moving because that’s just how it always was. Slowing down would mean — on some level, at least — slowed momentum. Stopping would mean accepting failure, when “making it” was just a little bit out of reach.

Like countless touring acts, the pandemic managed to dismantle their trajectory. That relentless forward motion that shaped their identity for the better part of a decade just suddenly stopped. Tours vanished. Plans dissolved. The result was an uneasy silence. Understandably, for the trio, it all felt devastating.

But in the stillness, something else emerged for the band — space: The space to rest, reflect, recover, feel and importantly, to make different choices. The band made a quieter, more human recalibration, shifting away from survival to towards sustainability. Rather than constantly feeling that they had to prove something, they moved towards building something — and choosing meaning over the endless chase of momentum.

The result was Bloom. Written during lockdown and the subsequent years, the album is about several things simultaneously: presence, the love that feels like home, stillness as strength, devotion without spectacle, grief without melodrama, healing without performative optimism, growth that happens slowly, privately and honestly.

Wher eas previously released material was frequently defined by scale and endurance, Bloom‘s material is defined by intimacy and grounding. Its songs are built from small moments rather than big, grand statements. It’s about choosing to stay. Not just in relationships but in places, in moments, in emotions and in identity.

The shift in the band’s approach, fittingly lead to a shift in their sound. While the album’s material continues to carry the vastness they’re known for, it lives alongside of a sense fragility and restraint. Instead of actively attempting to overwhelm the listener, the band is trying to meet the listener where they are right now.

The album’s first single “Miningsby” is a slow-burning and atmospheric tune that’s simultaneously cinematic and intimate, while evoking a loving, patient calmness. The track is about something that’s somehow both difficult and easy — being present when your loved one is struggling with anxiety, depression or something else.

“Rather than trying to dramatise that experience, ‘Miningsby’ is about something quieter and harder: staying, listening, and offering warmth,” the band explains. “It’s a love letter to emotional endurance, grounded in small moments and the hope of better days ahead.”

The song’s title came from a bit of serendipitous happenstance. When the original demo files were saved in an old, rural Lincolnshire studio, they were geolocated to Miningsby, a tiny nearby village. For the band, the title — and in turn, the town’s name — became an unintended marker for a place and time that no longer exists, but continues to resonate through the music, much like the fleeting yet beautiful moments the song memorializes.

The song’s origins manage to mirror its themes. The song was recorded on a baby grand piano that the band no longer owns, in a studio they’ve since left behind. The song captures something gone yet the feeling of being held through it all.

The song sees the band framing love through tangible, physical moments and sensations — breath, warm, light. But along with that, there’s a sense of calm, loving patience and the belief that things can get better with love and through time.

The accompanying video, shot in black and white features the band performing the song in studio.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Atsuko Chiba Shares Slow-Burning, Brooding “Retention”

Through the release of three full-length albums, 2013’s Jinn, 2019’s Trace and 2023’s Water, It Feels Like It’s Growing, two EP’s, 2016’s Figure and Ground and The Memory Empire, as well as a handful of singles, all which were self-produced and recorded at their own Room 11 Studio, Montréal-based outfit Atsuko Chiba — Karim Lakhdar (vocals, guitar, synths), Kevin McDonald (synths, guitar), Eric Schafhauser (guitar, synths), David Palumbo (bass, bass VI, vocals) and Anthony Piazza (drums, electronic drums, percussion) — have firmly established a genre-defying sound that sees them crating a cohesive and hypnotic blend of post-rock, prog rock and krautrock paired with offbeat songwriting.

The Montréal-based quintet’s self-titled fourth album is slated for an April 24, 2026 release through Mothland. The album reportedly sees the band rethinking their sound and approach, drawing inspiration from the likes of Mark Lanegan, Beak>, Talk Talk, Can and Portishead, along with their previously established post-punk fueled psychedelia.

Though the band has been introducing more vocals and lyrics with every subsequent release, their fourth album sees the band further wielding vocals and lyrics as a well to delve deeper into their intrinsic meta. The result is an album that’s one-part gritty post-rock and one-part intimate hymn to self-reflection with its moodiness amplifying a communal desire to eschew recurrent patterns for the sake of comfort, approval and longevity.

The band decided upon a freeform creative process, which could only be achieved by pursuing a hands-on approach, and with each member sharing the roles of engineer and producer,

“Overall, Atsuko Chiba is an exercise in patience and restraint. The mood of the album is melancholic, at times feeling optimistic, while other times feeling almost hopeless—there’s a sense of loss and disconnect, but also a glimmer of hope,” the band explains. “It is the most vulnerable and stripped down music we have ever made. It is a departure from the aggressive and distorted guitar sound we’ve relied on over the years. We also chose to make it a self-titled record which is something we battled with. We went with Atsuko Chiba because its overarching themes relate to us in a deep way. The material on this album presents itself as a mosaic of our interests and experiences as a band. We let the music guide us every step of the way, never forcing our will upon it, instead paying attention to what it was telling us and what we could do to further support it.

At first, we would come into the studio without a plan, just playing and recording the entire time, with no pressure as to a specific outcome: free jams during which we were just generating grooves, parts, and moments that felt good to us. We also put limitations, cutting out certain instruments from session to session, opening us to new options and pathways, generating new sound palettes. A lot of attention was put into creating space and holding back from always going for big epic moments. We focussed on keeping things simple and using dynamics to create exciting moments instead of relying on loud guitars to get us there. This album features a lot of auxiliary percussion, synthesizers, and keyboards, and places a strong emphasis on vocals. We explored acoustic guitars and created many custom percussive sounds by layering two or three sources together, also programming rhythms using samplers and drum machines.”

The self-titled album’s latest single, album opening track “Retention” is a slow-burning, almost bluesy shuffle featuring eerily atmospheric synths, a melodic bass line, dancing guitars paired with driving percussion and sprechgesang-like vocals that become increasingly melodic, turning the song into a sort of hazy, dream-like ritualistic vibe. In fact, lyrically, the song recounts a tale of rituals, spirits and effigies from a parallel universe.

“’Retention’ takes place in a world not quite our own—half dream, half memory—where every shadow holds a story and every breath carries the weight of what once was,” the band’s Karim Lakhdar explains. “At its center is a young boy who lives in a village haunted by the quiet, persistent ghosts of the past. They linger in doorframes, whisper through the trees, and stare back from every surface like reflections. There is only one way to free himself: the boy must meet the spirits face to face. He gathers what remains of them—fragments of memory, pieces of lives unfinished—and shapes them into effigies. One by one, he sets them aflame. This ritual, both tender and terrifying, invites the spirits to release their hold and return to whatever lies beyond. With each burning figure, a thread is severed, a burden lifted, a soul allowed to rest. Yet the question remains—when all the effigies have turned to ash, will the boy finally be free, or will he always carry the guilt of the past.”

The accompanying video for “Retention” features footage shot by the band and edited by the band’s Anthony Piazza. The footage captures the band in the studio, presumably while recording their new album and on the road. The result balances a sense of seriousness and playfulness.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: London’s deathcrash Shares Heartbroken Yet Anthemic “Triumph”

London-based slowcore/post rock outfit deathcrash — Tiernan Banks (vocals, guitar), Matthew Weinberger (guitar), Patrick Fitzgerald (bass) and Noah Bennett (drums) — have come to prominence as part of a busy and very talented South London scene that includes Black Country, New Road; Jerskin Fendrix, Sorry and Black Midi, while setting themselves apart with a distinctly mysterious energy.

The London-based quartet’s full-length debut, 2022’s 65 minute-long Return was released to praise from Loud and Quiet, who wrote that the album was “an embarrassment of musical riches that is only matched by the depth of evocations that haunt the record.” Building upon a growing profile, 6 months after the release of their debut, the quartet went to the Outer Hebrides to record their sophomore album, 2023’s Less, which was a focused and lean progression of their sound to further critical applause.

Less was followed by a collection of remixes including collaborations with Water From Your Eyes and Mandy, Indiana.

deathcrash’s latest single “Triumph” is the rising British outfit’s first bit of new material in over two years. “Triumph” is a slow-burning, brooding tune featuring the sort of enormous, fuzzy power chords and rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses that seemingly channel 90s grunge paired with an achingly heartbroken vocal delivery and thunderous drumming. At its core is a sense of the regret, loss and uneasy acceptance of adulthood.

“This song is about fighting the urge to drive into oncoming traffic” the band comment. “It marks Patrick’s return to songwriting. It shows that growing up is no ‘triumph’, but an occasionally graceful and occasionally bitter acceptance of who you are now.”

Directed and shot by Patrick Fitzgerald and St.Teilo, the accompanying video for “Triumph” captures a sense of youth being fleeting, of knowing that things can and often will be painful and difficult — and yet there are small moments of being at shows, fucking around with pals, of just being somewhat carefree are the pleasures we need to cherish. This is interspersed with late night scenes of driving.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: BMA Shares Broodingly Cinematic “The Unwritten Winter”

Through the release of 2020’s self-produced debut EP 2020’s Asynchronous and 2023’s full-length debut, Ephemeral, the French-born, Canadian composer, multi-instrumentalist and BMA creative mastermind Bruno Margiotta quickly established a broodingly cinematic sound that draws from post-punk, classical music and electronic music.

The French-born, Canadian-based artist’s recently released sophomore album, Born From The Last Rain features album single “The Unwritten Winter,” a broodingly cinematic composition anchored around a woozily looping guitar figure, twinkling keys and glistening retro-futuristic synths that further cements Margiotta’s sound — a sound that seemingly channels Mogwai, Collapse Under The Empire and others.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Copenhagen’s Young Couple Shares Brooding “As the Leaves Unfold”

Copenhagen-based art rock/experimental art rock outfit Young Couple — Jonas Tøibner (vocals, guitar), Mikkel Kruse (bass), Eigil Fauerskov (guitar), Jens Brøndum (saxophone), and Christian Hafdrup (drums) — have crafted a intimate and unpredictable sound that sits within the intersection of post-rock, dream pop and neo-psychedelia featuring complex rhythmic structures, glitchy electronics, shoegazer like guitar textures and brooding sax lines paired with yearning vocals singing abstract lyrics full of fleeting, evasive images, describing an emotional landscape where love, dreams and friendships often intertwine.

The quintet have made a name for themselves in the Danish underground scene, playing shows with Jenny, Himmelrum and Bishbusch while members of the band have also played with Martha Elisabeth, Niko Corlin and Vakt. Building upon a growing profile in the Danish scene, Young Couple’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, yc is slated for a November 7, 2025 release through Pink Cotton Candy Records.

yc is the culmination of years of close friendship, extermination and musical exploration that reportedly sees the band pairing warm, organic instrumentation with layers of processing and effects. While drawing from shoegaze, post-rock and experimental pop, yc‘s material pushes the boundaries of those genres into something simultaneously familiar yet new. Thriving on contrast, texture and space, the Danish outfit’s full-length debut evokes a nocturnal, urban atmosphere perfect for listening on headphones late night.

yc’s first single “As the Leaves Unfold,” is a slow-burning and brooding tune that draws from and meshes elements of post rock, art rock, post punk, indie rock and shoegaze that captures an uneasy tension between the inner and outer worlds of its narrator with a precise attention to psychological realism. According to the band, “As the Leaves Unfold” is an exploration of “the small mysteries of everyday life,” and an optimism rooted in the belief that the most profound discovers of our lives can hide under the smallest of stones.

Adhering to long-held DIY ethos, the band accompany the new single with a completely self-made video, that features snippets of every day life full of symbolism — sunset at the beach, a major bicycle race, a boat ride in Arctic-like waters and more.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: The Color of Cyan Performs “Hail the Mountains” at Chicago’s Electrical Audio

Chicago-based post rock/post-metal outfit The Color of Cyan — Henry Cole (drums), Jorge Santana (bass) and Eduardo Cintron (guitar) — originally formed in San Juan, Puerto Rico back in 2000. The band re-emerged during the height of the pandemic as a solely instrumental project that created intricate soundscapes with aggressive guitar.

2021’s Agape featured multi-layered material that patiently built up in pressure and impact.

2023’s Egress, which was recorded between Puerto Rico, Chicago and Mexico City saw the band blurring the boundaries of a sound that featured elements of post metal, post rock and neo-classical while exploring emotion through introspective and delicate compositions. “Our music arrangements are purposely in constant motion, guided by emotions, impossible to replicate perfectly, like waves in the sea. Nothing is ever the same as before,” the Chicago-based outfit explained in press notes.

The Color of Cyan’s forthcoming third album As Human reportedly sees the band expanding upon their sound further with organic and abstract compositions that are central to the album’s identity. According to the band, “the album feels like a film without words — an exploration of what it means to be fragile, to endure, and to feel deeply.”

As Human’s first single “Hail the Mountains” is a cinematic and shoegazer-like composition featuring swelling, swirling and towering feedback-drenched guitars paired with shimmering strings that manages to evoke wind-swept, mountainous vistas while sonically recalling Collapse Under the Empire and You Doo Right. “This song is a towering ode to resilience. With swelling orchestration and tremolo-driven peaks, it captures the sublime tension between permanence and solitude, grandeur and stillness,” The Color of Cyan explains. “It’s a soundscape carved into stone, echoing long after the final note fades into an acoustic denouement.”

The band recorded a live session at Chicago‘s Electrical Audio, which features the band and an orchestra performing the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Porto, Portugal’s Verbian Shares Hard-Hitting “Marcha do Vulto”

Since their founding back in 2015, Porto, Portugal outfit Verbian — currently Vasco Reis (guitar, keys, vocals), Alexandre Silva (bass, keys, vocals) and the band’s newest member Guilherme Gonçalves (drums, percussion) — has firmly cemented a reputation for crafting a sound that fuses elements of metal, rock, electronic music with experimental percussion. For the band, evolution is essential to creating heavy music. And that a commitment to revealing profound commitment to revealing profound emotions and letting artistic expression and your muses take you and your music wherever you dare to go.

The Portuguese trio’s self-released debut, 2019’s JAEZ was followed by their sophomore album, 2021’s Irrupçao was released through Italian label Antigony Records. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band managed to support the album with shows at Porto’s Hard Club and stops in cities across the Iberian Peninsula like Braga, Viana do Castelo, Santiago de Compostela and Aveiro. When Guilherme Gonçalves joined the band in 2022, the band played Toulouse, Clermont-Ferrand, Santander and at Gouveia‘s Romaria Cultural. They closed out the year with an Iberian tour alongside Catalan band Siberia that featured stops in Vigo, Porto and Coruña.

Verbian’s third album Casarder was just released through Lost Future Records. The Daniel Valente and Verbian co-produced effort was recorded with a different approach from the band’s previously released material: The trio did all of the preproduction in the studio, live. “We then built a tempo map and after that we did overdubs,” the band explains. “But the biggest difference was that these were the first songs we wrote with Guilherme on the drums and we believe that is why it’s so different from the previous albums. He brought a new and fresh groove to our music, maintaining the heaviness.”

Casarder sees the band pummeling listeners with hard-hitting riff after riff. But the material never wears out its welcome, and pulls listeners along on a sonic journey through Dali-esque landscapes of rock forms, pulled apart and reconfigured into something mesmerizing and completely new.

The mostly instrumental material sees the band never lingering on a part too long and never wasting a note. And at its core, the compositions are angry, driving and layered without sounding overly technical or indulgent. Interestingly, the distorted, anxious and surrealistic visual style of the album’s cover art, painted by Madelena Pinta, manages to speak to the album’s direct albeit melted psychedelic, electronic post-metal style.

“Casarder speaks a little about the insecurities of artistic expression and personal exposure when it comes to fearing being judged for something that is somewhat outside of what is done in each artist’s niche,” the band explains. “This was the theme that also inspired the album cover.”

Casarder‘s latest single “Marcha do Vulto” is an expansive and bruising composition with elements of post-metal, post rock, stoner rock and No Wave that pummels listeners eardrums while showcasing the band’s and their cast of collaborators, Ivo Magalhães’ (percussion), Pedro Sequeira’s (trumpet), Igor Cavaz’s(saxophone) and Rodrigo Santos’ (trombone) remarkably soulful, technical prowess.

The accompanying live footage features the Portuguese band and their collaborators performing the song in studio.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Orian Bor Shares Brooding and Cinematic “Hard Road”

Orian Bor is an emerging Italian producer and multi-instrumentalist, who can trace the origins of his music career to when he turned 12 and started playing the piano. Around the time, he turned 15, the […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Larmes Noires Shares Shoegazey “L’aurore”

Mathieu Schreyer is a French singer/songwriter and musician, best known for his synth wave project MPKS. His side, solo recording project Larmes Noires is a decided departure from his best known work: Larmes Noires sees Schreyer exploring darker thoughts, much more honest feelings paired with soundscapes inspired by Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine, The Cure and the like, and dreamily delivered vocals.

Since starting Larmes Noires, Schreyer has released a handful of singles, last year’s full-length debut, Les ombres dérangées and the recently released self-produced sophomore album Stigmate. Sonically blending elements of post-rock, shoegaze and darkwave to create an atmospheric and immersive soundscape, the album’s material was crafted as an intimate journey, where each track serves as a raw expression of vulnerability and resilience. And fittingly, the album’s material touches upon themes of melancholy, social isolation, inner strength and resolve — in a deeply personal fashion.

Stigmate‘s latest single “L’aurore,” is a brooding and cinematic track that pairs elements of Souvlaki and A Storm in Heaven-era shoegaze with Collapse Under the Empire-like post-rock paired with Schreyer’s plaintive and ethereal delivery and enormous hooks. At its core, there is a sense of resilience and hope.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Somos el Viento Shares Broodingly Cinematic “Fragments”

Spanish-born and-based producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist Óliver del Barrio is the creative mastermind being the solo recording project Somos el Viento. And with his Somos el Viento full-length debut, Mar Negro, del Barrio quickly establishes a lushly layered and expansive soundscape that blends post-rock, space rock and ambient music.

Mar Negro‘s latest single “Fragments” is a brooding and cinematic composition that sonically reminds me a bit of Collapse Under the Empire, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, The Octopus Project and others while displaying an artist, who can craft an immersive and meditative soundscape.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montréal’s Yoo Doo Right Shares Stormy “Eager Glacier”

Deriving their name from one of Can‘s best known — and perhaps most covered — songs, Montréal-based experimentalists Yoo Doo Right — Justin Cober (guitar, synths, vocals), Charles Masson (bass) and John Talbot (drums, percussion) — pair noisy and melodic guitar lines, effects-laden synthesizer soundscapes, deep bass grooves and furious and driving percussion into sprawling, cathartic musical pieces that draw inspiration from post-rock, krautrock, shoegaze, classical music, electroacoustics and musique concrète.

Since their formation back in 2016, the Montréal-based trio have been prolific: Their first two EPs 2016’s Nobody Panicked and Everybody Got On and 2017’s EP2 served to introduced the band’s signature bombastic approach to psychedelia. Their 7″ split with Japanese experimentalists Acid Mothers Temple saw the trio adopting a decidedly motorik feel. The Canadian trio’s full-length debut, 2021’s Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose saw the band further establishing an undeniable sound while receiving praise from the likes of Paste Magazine, who wrote “sometimes vigorous and verging on total collapse and sometimes delicate and measured [ . . .] a gift that never stops giving.”

Their Polaris Prize long-listed sophomore album, 2022’s A Murmur, Boundless to the East received praise from AllMusic, who wrote “Yoo Doo Right are skilled at employing restraint, but when they let themselves go, it feels truly earth-shaking” and Flood Magazine‘s Stephan Boissonneault writing “The post-everything krautrockers’ sophomore album is a towering release fit for nebulous contemplation and feelings of foreboding astral projection.”

Released earlier this year, The Sacred Fuck EP was a sonic departure that saw the acclaimed tiro experimenting with found sound, field recordings and sonic collage, momentarily straying away from the high-decibel eardrum shattering sound they’re best known for.

During that same period, they’ve become a highly in-demand live act that has toured across North America, including a making the rounds of the festival circuit with sets at Levitation, M for Montréal, Sled Island, Pop Montreal and New Colossus Festival. The Canadian experimentalists have opened for Acid Mothers Temple, DIIV, A Place to Bury Strangers, Wooden Shjips, Kikagkiu Moyo, FACS, Frigs, and Jessica Moss and a growing list of others.

The Montréal-based outfit’s third album, the Seth Manchester-produced From The Heights of Our Pastureland is slated for a November 8, 2024 release through Mothland. Recorded at Pawtucket-based Machines with Magnets, From The Heights or Our Pastureland is reportedly an honest and patient sonic poem about the destructive process of unbridled expansion in the name of “progress,” that expansion’s inevitable collapse and what it means to rebuild. The album sees the trio further developing ideas they previously started exploring, while creating what’s arguably one of their darkest, heaviest and ominous batch of material to date.

The trio wrote the material in a remote cabin near Saguenay, QC last winter. Snowed in, Cober, Masson and Talbot played for three days straight, archiving anything and everything, musing about “the storm of colonialism, the collapse of capitalism and the massive undertaking it is to rebuild with past mistakes taken into deep consideration.” Fittingly, the album draws major inspiration from parallels drawn between natural phenomena ranging from climate change-related bad weather to environmental disasters and the overwhelming force of our sociopolitical frameworks. Also informed by the commodification of art, AI and algorithmic art, the trio later revisited the album’s material, altering their initial compositions by way of element juxtaposition and extensive sound design. The album sees the band embracing their penchant for sonic manipulation in all of its forms while achieving an uncanny equilibrium between unresolved tensions and soothing resolutions throughout.

“We aimed for something cinematic, but not in the way of a score, rather something more experiential. We wanted to create music that could ignite drive in oneself, hopefully something of significance in and of itself,” the band says. “While we’re really not here to force understanding on people, for us the predominant themes are anxiety and patience, the storm of colonialism, the collapse of capitalism and the massive undertaking it is to rebuild with past mistakes taken into deep consideration. It draws a parallel between natural disaster and social disaster, the experience of watching an impending destructive storm roll in and watching an impending societal disaster unfold under our current colonial, capitalistic frameworks. Hopefully, folks can give themselves time to make some sensible thoughts of the album on their own.”

The album’s second and latest single, the sprawling “Eager Glacier” is anchored around a propulsive and thunderous drum beat, whirring synths, layers of swirling shoegazer-like guitar textures that build up to a brewing and malevolent storm. Featuring elements of post rock, drone, metal and shoegaze, “Eager Glacier” manages to feel like a natural phenomenon, much like a glacier breaking apart at the seams, while possessing a cinematic quality.
 

“I’ve recently embraced the surrealist and absurdist in me, and this project reflects my desire to blur the lines between reality and the subconscious,” the video’s director Stacy Lee explains. ” Inspired by my recent deep dive into experimental cinema, I’ve come to see genres as fluid—cinema, like music, exists on a continuum, and my work is an ongoing exploration of that entire range. This video doesn’t follow a traditional narrative but instead invites viewers into a space where they can create their own meaning. Through visual experimentation, I wanted to transport us into another dimension, where magic literally unfolds on screen.”