Tag: Single Review

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Nation of Language Shares Tom Sharkett Rework of “Inept Apollo”

Last year was a big year for acclaimed Brooklyn-based synth pop trio and JOVM mainstays Nation of Language. The trio — Ian Richard Devaney (vocals, guitar), Aidan Noell (synths) and Alex MacKay (bass) — signed with Sub Pop Records, who released their Nick Milhiser produced and mixed fourth album, Dance Called Memory, continuing an ongoing collaboration that included 2023’s Strange Disciple.“What’s so great about Nick is his ability to make us feel like we don’t need to do what might be expected of us,” says Nation of Language’s Aidan Noell.  

Sonically, the album is imbued with a subtly shifted palette: On some tracks percussion is smashed through a synthesizer as a nod to early-2000s electronic music. Chopped-up drum break samples also make appearances.

But ultimately, for the trio, the hope was to weave raw vulnerability and humanity into a synth-heavy album. “There is a dichotomy between the Kraftwerk school of thought and the Brian Eno school of thought, each of which I’ve been drawn to at different points. I’ve read about how Kraftwerk wanted to remove all of the humanity from their music, but Eno often spoke about wanting to make synthesized music that felt distinctly human,” Nation of Language’s Ian Richard Devaney says. “As much as Kraftwerk is a sonically foundational influence, with this record I leaned much more towards the Eno school of thought. In this era quickly being defined by the rise of AI supplanting human creators, I’m focusing more on the human condition, and I need the underlying music to support that… Instead of hopelessness, I want to leave the listener with a feeling of us really seeing one another, that our individual struggles can actually unite us in empathy.”

The album features “Inept Apollo,” which continues a remarkable run of nostalgia-inducing 80s New Wave-inspired material that showcases the trio’s unerring knack for crafting slickly produced bops, anchored around earnest lyricism and songwriting.

Recently the JOVM mainstays shared Tom Sharkett‘s bold rework of “Inept Apollo.” Sharkett’s rework retains Devaney’s yearning vocal and some of the original’s New Wave/synth pop-inspired feel but noticeably increases the BPM and adds a strutting disco-like bass line. The result is a something that’s earnest, achingly yearning and yet even more dance floor friendly. It’s one-part Madchester-scene, one-part NYC dance club.

“We’re big fans of WH Lung, as well as Tom’s excellent recent LCD Soundsystem rework, so we were super excited when he reached out saying he wanted to take a crack at a new mix of ‘Inept Apollo,'” Devaney says. ” Our initial enthusiasm only grew when we received the end product a couple months later and were able to test it out in a club environment a few times. Can confidently report it sounds fantastic in a loud and crowded room. Here’s hoping it sees its way to a few dance floors in 2026.”
 
“I had an affinity with Nation of Language as soon as I heard their music,” Tom Sharkett says. “It felt like it came from the same place as the music I was making myself and with W. H. Lung, and the more of their music I heard, the more I felt it. It was hard initially to find a way in with remixing ‘Inept Apollo,’ as I loved the original so much. I knew I wanted to nod to the connection between NYC and Manchester started by the artists and DJs I feel we both love, without even having to name check them. It had to be wonky, and it had to be loose and lively. Hope you enjoy!”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bronco Forte Shares Bruising “Obvious Alias”

Los Angeles-based stoner rock outfit Bronco Forte — Chris Klepac (vocals, guitar), All Hail the Yeti‘s Sako Inajaian (guitar), White Forest‘s Jen Glomboski (bass), and Batillus‘ and A Storm of Light‘s Geoff Summers (drums) — will be releasing their full-length debut, Lightning Scars on April 3, 2026.

After years of creative toil and preparation, the Los Angeles-based stoner rock quartet’s full-length debut sees the band stepping into the spotlight as a fully-formed heavy rock phenomenon with roots in the classic heavy music of the 1970s — but with a modern sensibility and sonic approach. Lightning Scars was tracked and mixed by engineer Kevin McCombs at The Steakhouse, the studio where Queens of The Stone Age recorded Era Vulgaris. The album was mastered by Nick Townsend, who cut the album to lacquer on his own personal lathe.

Thematically, Lightning Scars chronicle the uncertain lives of ordinary people of California and elsewhere, with the characters each song depicts desperately striving to maintain their integrity and sanity in the face of a rapidly-changing, increasingly dystopian hellscape.

And as a result, the album’s lyrics balance literary style and kitchen-sink realism. The album’s material is anchored around deep, dirty riffs, hard swinging grooves and song structures that are clever without being cluttered or overly complicated. And this is paired by a pop leaning sense of harmony.

Lightning Scars‘ second and latest single “Obvious Alias,” is anchored around the sort of bruising riffage that seemingly channels Queens of the Stone Age, Dirt-era Alice in Chains and Badmotorfinger-era Soundgarden while showcasing a band with an uncanny knack for pairing catchy, melodic-driven hooks, rousingly anthemic hooks and lived-in lyrics.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Crá Croí Returns with Brooding and Anthemic “Feeding The Fear”

Deriving their name from the Gaelic word for “heartache,” “vexation of spirit,” County Cork-based duo Crá Croí — RG (songwriting, production, mixing and mastering) and CD (vocals and visuals) — have employed a fiercely DIY ethos while establishing a sound that meshes elements of 1980s New Wave, post-punk and goth, featuring melancholic synths, dark melodies, angular guitars and sharp, hook-driven vocals. 

The Irish duo’s work explores themes of nihilism, love and destruction, dystopian collapsed and nuclear annihilation, often wrapped in irony and paired with post-apocalyptic metaphors. 

The Cork-based duo’s self-produced, 12-song, full-length debut, Tá brón ormis slated for release during the second half of 2026. Deriving its title from the Irish phrase for “sadness” or “sorrow is on me,” the duo’s debut effort will feature the previously released “Radiation Romance,” and “Fires At Dawn,” as well as their third and latest single, “Feeding The Fear.”

Sonically seeming to channel a synthesis of Chain of Flowers and Interpol, “Feeding The Fear,” showcases the Irish duo’s knack for crafting broodingly cinematic, hook-driven material. The duo explain “Feeding The Fear” explores themes of fear, endurance and rising through uncertainty, which seems remarkably prescient and fitting for our current moment.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Club 8 Shares Lush and Dreamy “Echoes Of Our Time”

Since the release of 2024’s A Year With Club 8, Stockholm-based JOVM mainstays Club 8 — Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and electronic music producer, artist and Labrador Records founder and label boss Johan Angergård — the duo spent last year releasing a single a month over the course of last year, including tunes like “ooo,” “None Of This Will Matter When You’re Dead,” “Staying Alive,” “Born The Wrong Time,” “Sneaky Feelings” and “Daydreams.” 

The duo begin 2026 with “Echoes Of Our Time,” a nostalgia-inducing bop that channels classic New Order and shimmering, 80s pop while showcasing the duo’s unerring knack for catchy hooks and rousingly anthemic choruses. The song touches upon some familiar and deeply universal themes — the heartache, despair and longing for a loved one, who you’re no longer involved with, the dreaminess of northern hemisphere winter and the longing to spend a wintry day in bed not doing much.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Silverdeer Shares Lush and Yearning “Open Mouth”

Los Angeles-based duo Silverdeer — longtime friends Halsey Bousquet (vocals) and Nika Fazeli — have been centered by a long-held warm, flirty and playful kinetic energy that they first established with their first project saturn 17.

Formed back in 2019, saturn 17 quickly gained attention with their breakout single “could this be love,” which amassed over 10 million streams. But by 2024, the duo found themselves facing unexacting challenges. Bouts of writer’s block and an overwhelming urge to explore new sounds and genres led to a creative hiatus.

Both Fazeli and Bosquet recognized that they were undergoing a personal and artistic metamorphosis that ultimately required a new name for their project that matched it. Over the past couple of years as Silverdeer, the duo have established a sound that melds the spirit of 90s alternative rock with lush, dream pop textures.

The duo’s latest effort, the Casey Lagos-produced House of Devotion is slated for a March 20, 2026 release. The forthcoming EP will feature the previously released “Montauk” and “Drift.”

“Meeting Casey was like finding the missing puzzle piece,” the Los Angeles duo say. “We had been trying for so long to explain our vision to people, and it was so refreshing to find someone who immediately understood it and had the tools and the creativity to push us where we wanted to go. He is such a supportive and sweet person too, we feel so safe being vulnerable and creative with him.” 

“House of Devotion is inspired by the beach house in Eternal Sunshine — a place meant to feel safe and intimate, but one that starts collapsing the moment you step inside,” the duo explain. “It’s built from memories, desire, and the fragile structures two people create together, and it begins to fall apart under the emotional weight of devotion.” And fittingly, the EP’s material explores themes of love, connection, nostalgia and longing. “House of Devotion invites you to reflect on connection — how we relate to people who have entered and exited our lives.”

The EP’s third and latest single, “Open Mouth” is a dreamy mix of dream pop, shoegaze and trip hop, anchored around the duo’s penchant for remarkably catchy, razor sharp hooks — and a palpable sense of yearning and barely controlled desire that feels youthful and explosive.

“‘Open Mouth’ is our most addicting song on the EP,” the duo shares. “It exists as a celebration of sexuality, a snapshot of desire and almost-caught moments.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: SPDS Returns with Trance-inducing Banger “Like A Word I Never Knew”

With the release of 2024’s full-length debut, SDPS, Copenhagen-based acoustic techno/jazz punks Smag På Dig Selv (SPDS) — Oliver Lauridsen (tenor sax), Thorbjørn Øllgaard (baritone sax, bass sax, vocals) and Albert Holberg (drums) — firmly cemented their reputation as one of most boundary pushing groups in the contemporary Danish scene. With a sound that’s an explosive, party starting mixture of acoustic techno, punk energy, jazz and 90s EDM, the Danish trio have begun to make the round of the international festival and touring circuit, playing sets at Roskilde Festival, SXSW, The Great Escape, Eurosonic, Winter Jazzfest NYC and Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage. 

SPDS’s highly-anticipated sophomore album This Is Why We Lost is slated for a March 2026 through Stunt Records. The album will feature the previously released, TMI Tammi-produced “Let’s Go!,” “Vik’s Rawcore,” which sees the trio collaborating with vibraphonist Viktoria Søndergaard, and the album’s fourth and final, pre-release single “Like A Word I Never Knew.”

Arguably one of the darker songs on the album, “Like A Word I Never Knew,” is a trance-inducing and forcefully propulsive club banger paired with a modal-era Miles Davis-like introspective lyricism. Recorded during the final phase of album sessions, “Like A Word I Never Knew,” captures a moment of transition. As summer inevitably faded into yet another autumn and the band wrapped up their final shows of the season, they entered the studio with a noticeably calmer, more introspective energy. And the result is a track driven by focus, restraint and deep emotional weight.

For the band, the song reflects the core ambition behind the forthcoming album: to create music that can exist within a trance or club-orientated setting while still carrying a strong melodic and narrative arc.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Golden Hours Shares Broodingly Cinematic “Arctic Desert”

Currently split between Berlin and Brussels, post punk outfit Golden Hours — Hákon Aõalsteinsson, Wim Janssens, Tobias Humble and Rodrigo Funtealba Palavacino — features a collection of seasoned players, who have performed as part of Gang of Four, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Fuzztones, Tricky‘s backing band and a lengthy list of others. 

The post-punk outfit rumbled into the scene with the release of 2023’s self-titled debut. Their sophomore album Beyond Wires was released last week through The Third Sound/Fuzz Club Records and features brooding album track “The Letter,” and the album’s latest single “Arctic Desert.”

“Arctic Desert,” is a slow-burning, cinematic tune that’s one part post-apocalyptic post punk, one-part Morricone-era Spaghetti Western film score anchored by Hákon Aõalsteinsson’s world weary delivery.

“‘Arctic Desert’ leans into our love for French and Italian cinema from the age of lead,” Golden Hours’ Wim Janssens explains. “The beat and opening guitar pull you in before waves of noise flare up, sounding like the house band on Anton LaVey’s ritual ceremonies at his Black House in San Francisco. Hakon’s weary croon invites you for a walk to fully disappear into the ice cold desert night.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dublin’s Martina and the Moons Share Broodingly Cinematic “Higher Than A Hawk”

Led by Spanish-Scottish frontperson Martina Moon, Dublin-based indie outfit Martina and the Moons can trace their origins back to when Moon relocated to Dublin to study at BIMM University, where she met and quickly connected with her then-future bandmates Ruby Levins (bass), Zahira Ellis (drums) and Sarah Morgan (guitar). 

The Dublin-based quartet quickly established a sound that blended elements of post-punk, indie rock, 90s Brit Pop and the 60s and 70s Laurel Canyon sound while featuring gorgeous melodies and a youthful aggression and angst. In fact, Moon, who cites Paul Simon, Lady Gaga, Catatonia, Radiohead, Bruno Mars and an eclectic list of others as influences, writes lyrics that frequently touch on themes of alienation, being misunderstood, being an outsider, and yearning with a deeply lived-in sensibility and earnestness. 

In a short period of time, the band has played opening slots for Porridge Radio and Thumper. They’ve played Whelan’s Main Stage at Ones to Watch. And adding to a growing regional profile, they played 2025’s The Great Escape Festival, receiving mentions from BBC Introducing and praise from Golden Plec and from Hotpress, who named them one of their Hot for ’25 acts. 

Last year, the band signed to Dublin-based artist development label Rubarb Music, who released recently released their Ruadhrí Cushnan-produced EP Starfish Social Club, which features the previously released “Baby Turtle” and “Laundry Mat.”  

Starfish Social Club EP‘s third and latest single “Higher Than A Hawk” showcases a more shoegazer and post punk-tinged take on their Brit Pop-inspired sound. Featuring swirling and shimmering guitars, an angular and propulsive bass line, forceful drumming paired with Moon’s bold, almost in-your-face delivery, “Higher Than A Hawk” may arguably be the most brooding and cinematic song on the EP, seemingly channeling the likes of A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve, Slowdive, The Church and others, all while anchored around Moon’s earnest lyricism.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Us and I Share Melancholy “What’s There to Dream”

Formed back in 2018 in  Bangalore and currently based in Düsseldorf, synth pop duo Us and I — Bidisha Kesh (vocals) and Guarav Govilkar (production) — features members who come from very different backgrounds and who bonded over having similar musical sensibilities. As the story goes, when teh pair started to work together, they quickly realized that they shared a unique way of crafting songs: deeply personal lyrics paired with the melancholia of the orange and yellow colors leaking from their synthesizers.

Th duo then spent the next two years developing a sound that they believed acted as a bridge between the synth-driven work of Chromatics and the slow-burning, dream pop of Beach House — with subtle nods to darkwave and post-punk. Thematically, the duo’s material generally draws from everyday life and the relationships around them. 

The duo’s debut EP, 2021’s Loveless thematically focused on a deeply universal subject, love — in particular, a past love, and how the nostalgia and grief of that past love can hit us like a wave hitting the shore. Since the release of Loveless EP, the duo relocated to Düsseldorf — for work and for potentially better opportunities for their music. 

The Düsseldorf-based duo begins 2026 with their latest single, “What’s There To Dream,” a slow-burning and melancholy song that continues a run of material that to my ears sounds like a synthesis of Still Corners and Beach House — but while evoking a mix of nostalgia, reverie and creeping doubt.

“We all have days when we question the meaning of this quiet banality of life. Moments where everything feels soft, heavy and strangely beautiful at once,” the duo explain. “This song is an invitation to sit with those thoughts. To dive into existentialism in colour. . . “

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Lucid Express Return with Lush, Brooding “Faux Sweetness”

Hong Kong-based shoegazers and JOVM mainstays Lucid Express will be releasing their long-awaited and highly-anticipated sophomore album Instant Comfort on February 20, 2026 through Kanine Records. 

Mixed by Kurt Feldman during marathon overnight, transpacific sessions on Discord, Instant Comfort reportedly captures the unsettling stillness of the nighttime hours. The album’s material sonically sees the Hong Kong-based JOVM mainstays pairing ethereal melodies with towering walls of jangling guitars and hazy, swirling feedback while being more clear-eyed, complex and layered than anything they’ve released to date. 

The album will feature the previously released “Something Blue,” a woozy and uneasy tune, anchored around a classic grunge and shoegaze structure, and the album’s second and latest single “Faux Sweetness.” Arguably one of the more Cocteau Twins-like tunes they’ve written and released to date, “Faux Sweetness” opens with a droning theremin passage before bursting into a densely layered, subtly brooding soundscape in which each instrument is seamlessly interwoven into a lush and dreamy bed for Kim Ho’s ethereal cooing.

Lucid Express’ Kim Ho says, “on ‘Faux Sweetness’ we return to some of our earliest indie pop influences while also mixing in some of the darker sounds we’ve picked up over years of experimenting in our studio space. It kind of led us to make something that is both heavier and more delicate than anything we’d written up to that point.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Draag Shares Woozily Meditative “NSPS”

With the release of their full-length debut, 2023’s Dark Fire Heresy and last year’s Actually, the quiet is nice EP, Los Angeles-based shoegazers and JOVM mainstays Draag — Adrian Acosta (vocals, guitar), Jessica Huang (vocals, synths), Ray Montes (guitar), Nick Kelley (bass) and Nathan Najera (drums) — received attention nationally and elsewhere for boldly pushing the boundaries of shoegaze into new, wild directions. And adding to a growing profile, the JOVM mainstay outfit have toured with Wednesday, MSPAINT, Glitterer and They Are Gutting A Body Of Water.

Building upon growing momentum, the Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstays will start the new year with the Miracle Drug EP, which is slated for a January 23, 2026 through Oakland-based tastemaker label, Smoking Room. 

The EP will feature the previously released, EP title track “Miracle Drug,” a mind-bending blend of shoegaze, post-punk and nu-metal, and the EP’s second single “NSPS.” “NSPS” is meditative slow-burn, anchored around a woozy and lived-in sense of nostalgia, shame and heartache, from the perspective of a narrator, who has lived a messy life and attained a difficult, hard-won peace and constantly encounters elements of their past — in their present.

“I wrote NSPS on my 10 year sobriety anniversary. I’ve come very far in my sobriety journey and don’t struggle as much as I used to. Sometimes I miss my drunken days, but without needing to go back. On my 10 year sobrieversary, I spent a lot of time reflecting on past relationships and saw how many were taking advantage of me,” Draag’s Adrian Costa explains. “I remember the person I was back then, and I wanted approval so bad, even if it meant being abused by so called friends and partners. When I drive through the valley (818), I often drive through specific locations and landmarks in my life where abysmal and ridiculous events occurred during my drinking days. I still love this place and it’s still my place of comfort.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: 5th PROJEKT Shares Brooding and Atmospheric “Oblivion”

With the release of 2022’s The Labyrinth EP and 2023’s The Wolf EP, Toronto-based psych rock/art rock outfit 5th PROJEKT — Tara Rice (vocals, guitar), Peter Broadley (bass), Sködt McNalty (guitar) and David Pake (drums) — made a name for themselves in the national scene: The Wolf EP debuted on the !earshot National Top 50, before climbing into the Top 25. The Wolf EP was also featured in Obscure Sound, Spill Magazine, V13, Canadian Beats, From the Strait and a collection of local and international publications.

Adding to a growing local and national profile, the band has received awards series of award nominations including The Ontario Independent Music Awards (IMAs), The Toronto Independent Music Awards (IMAs) and The Orange County Music Awards. They’ve also made a run of international festival circuit with sets at NXNE, Departure (f.k.a. Canadian Music Week), Indie Week, Kaleidoscope and Spirits of the Earth. And they’ve gone on two tours of Eastern Canada.

The Canadian quartet’s first live-off-the-floor EP Live in London is slated for a May 13, 2026 through the band’s own Organik Rekords. Recorded at London, ON-based The Sugar Shack, Live in London is part of the Incorrect Thoughts Live series.

The EP’s first single is a live rendition and reworking of “Oblivion,” a song that appeared on their debut effort, 2006’s Circadian. Live in London EP‘s take on “Oblivion” features a reimagined, slow-burning introduction, specifically meant to deepen the original’s hauntingly hypnotic pull while retaining the elements of the original that their fans loved: Rice’s ethereal and yearning delivery over a brooding slow-burning groove and shimmering and expressive, shoegazer-like guitar textures. And while reminding me a bit of Phantoms‘ 2013 effort The Fire Tapes, “Oblivion” showcases a band that specializes in cinematic atmospherics and enormous hooks and choruses.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: KITTY@ Shares Propulsive, Club Banging “When I Think Of You”

KITTY@ is a São Paulo-born, Italian based singer/songwriter and electronic music producer who has always been connected to the arts and creative endeavors. She began working marketing product design and media with a focus on fashion, textiles, color and visual culture, which has helped shaped her perspective and the way she builds ideas.

After taking a pause for health concerns, she rediscovered her passion for creativity through music. As a singer/songwriter and producer, her work largely draws from her experiences, her memory and from her sensitivity.

KITTY@’s latest effort, Disco Vibes is a 12-song effort that features material that sees her effortlessly blending disco, soul, R&B, pop, electro pop and techno. Disco Vibes‘ latest single “When I Think Of You,” is a catchy, club banger anchored a hypnotic and downright euphoric, Ibiza-like bass line and glistening synths that serves as a lush, hook-driven bed for her Taylor Dayne-like delivery. It’s the sort of song specifically meant for dancing — with your eyes closed, longing for that special one.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Sunnan Shares Mind-Bending and Hypnotic “Sail (Lady in Waiting)”

Swedish outfit Sunnan can trace their origins through a series of unlikely encounters, including pandemic-era change, a barn with panoramic windows in Sunnanhed and a meeting with a Stockholm rave legend. In many ways the band embodies creative serendipity — and unsurprisingly, their origin story, which feels both inevitable and improbable, echoes through their work.

The band quickly built a reputation with the release of a series of standout singles including “My Love For You,” “Wild Horses,” and “The Sound (Make It Come Back),” their collaboration with Titiyo. 2024’s debut studio album Cinema was released to widespread praise across the Nordics and earned two Swedish Grammy nominations.

Last year’s Cinema Sound System helped propel the Swedish outfit onto the global stage with its three singles receiving heavy radio rotation on Nordic radio stations, received strong DSP support and organic crossover into North American and European markets. The band supported their debut and EP with 20 sold-out dates across the Nordics and the European Union.

Building upon a growing profile, the Swedish outfit’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Spaghetti Soul is slated for release this year. Spaghetti Soul reportedly will see the band further cementing their critically applauded cinematic sound while further expanding their sonic palette with the album’s material being bold fusion of Italian Spaghetti Western grandeur and classic soul, filtered through a modern lens.

Spaghetti Soul‘s latest single, “Sail (Lady In Waiting)” is a mind-bending blend of 60s-styled psych rock, Morricone-inspired soundscapes and blue-eyed/Northern soul that showcases a band that effortlessly pairs old fashion craftsmanship with vibey atmospherics, deft musicianship and incredibly catchy hooks. “Sail (Lady In Waiting)” captures what the band describes as “the manifestation of a new genre.”

“‘Sail’ is the bridge from Cinema Sound System to our sophomore album Spaghetti Soul,” the band explains. “Leaning into our cinematic roots and timeless soundtracks like ‘Hurricane’ and ‘All Along the Watchtower’, the song portrays the legend of a life well lived — beauty preserved in memory, and hope for one last ride.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Low Blows Shares Brooding and Forceful “Vacio”

Barcelona-based trio Low Blows — Carlos Vergara (vocals, bass), Andrés Silgado (guitar) and Rubén Carballo (drums) — quickly established a sound that draws from post-punk, industrial, New Wave and darkwave with electric elements and a hint of shoegaze with their full-length debut, 2020’s Cruel.

The Spanish post-punk outfit followed Cruel’s release with a handful of singles, including last year’s Matteo Vallicelli-produced “Go!” The trio also played at OMBRA Festival.

Building upon a growing profile, the trio just released their sophomore, self-titled studio album. The album showcases a new creative phase by the Spanish trio, marked by greater restraint, sonic clarity and artistic cohesion with material that sees the band effortlessly blending post punk and darkwave paired with introspective lyrics. And it’s all anchored by a tension between rawness and sensitivity.

The band says that their sophomore album was conceived as an exercise in reaffirming identity and a point of synthesis between their previous path and a more defined, conscious vision of their artistic present.

The sophomore album’s lead single “Vacio” is a brooding and forceful bit of post-punk featuring an insistent rhythmic pulse and fuzzy guitars paired with an angular, New Order-like bass line, bursts of shimmering synths. While sounding as though it could be a part of the Dedstrange Records catalog — and as though it could have been released during 4AD Records heyday.

“Vacio,” as the band explains works as a statement of intent. “The song explores feelings of absence, disconnection and emotional exhaustion through a direct, no-frills approach. Musically, it leans into a cleaner, more minimalist production with an insistent rhythmic pulse and an enveloping atmosphere that carries the track’s emotional weight,” the band says.