Riga, Latvia-based alt rock outfit Bēdu Brāļi — Oskars Tu (vocals, guitar), Jānis Liepiņš (bass) and Pēteris Ozols (drums) — spent their formative years in their homeland’s vibrant mid 00s punk and rock scenes. While the scene’s fiercely independent ethos and the use of Lativan lyrics rubbed off on them, they’ve managed to stand apart from their peers.
The Riga-based outfit’s full-length debut, 2022’s Duende saw them crafting a sound that featured elements of shoegaze, psych rock, post-punk and more. Building upon a growing profile in their homeland, the trio’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Lauskas will be released April 8, 2025 through I Love You Records.
Deriving its title from the Latvian word for shards, the Riga-based outfit’s sophomore album reportedly sees the band further cementing their boundary pushing sound.
In the lead-up to the album’s release next week, I’ve written about three of the album’s previously released singles:
- “Ikdienas-dzive,” a track anchored around glistening guitars, a chugging motorik groove and a woozy, shoegazer textured guitar solo paired with Tu’s punchily delivered vocal. While recalling Montréal‘s Atusko Chiba, “Ikdienas-dzive,” captures a nagging sense of vacillating self-doubt, bored and uneasy dread and frustration that should feel familiar to anyone who’s slaved away at a soul-sucking day job.
- “Pieskaries,” is a brooding, decidedly post punk affair featuring an angular and propulsive bass line, rolling drum pattern and bursts of slashing guitars serving as an uneasy bed for Oskars Tu’s desperate wails. While continuing a run of material that reminds me a bit of Atsuko Chiba, “Pieskaries” captures a modern sense of isolation and unease while being with others.
- “Drošākā vieta,” a tense and brooding song featuring an angular and propulsive bass line, swirling shoegazer textures guitars paired with Oskars Tu’s achingly plaintive delivery before ending with a noisy coda. Deriving its name for the Latvian phrase for “safe place,” “Drošākā vieta” captures the long for a safe place in a mad, mad world.
“Kas Ir Mainījies?,” Lauskas‘ fourth and latest single is a slow-burning song that’s one-part 90s alt rock and one-part dream pop, anchored around a classic grunge song structure featuring alternating quiet verses with shimmering guitars and big, power chord-driven choruses serving as a woozy bed for Bēdu Brāļi frontman Oskars Tu and Latvian-born, London-based vocalist Múr to trade dreamily delivered vocals on what may arguably be their most pop-leaning track to date.