The debut album, I Thought It Was Us But It Was All Of Us, is a melting pot of genres, with elements of chamber music, shoegaze, ambient and drone all mixed together with dreamy vocals to form something difficult to categorize but mightily effective.  The result is an album of experimental songs that explores aspects of different types of music without ever feeling inaccessable or difficult to listen to.

The record is one of many layers and the context in which you listen to it produces very different experiences. As background music to an evening it is a pleasing listen that is easy on the ear, never getting too harsh and jarring you out of whatever else you may be doing. As the soundtrack to a train journey it brings to mind the slow machinations of the city or countryside, with tracks slowly unfolding with a natural ease. Best of all, and where I Thought It Was Us But It Was All Of Us comes into its own, is a fully involved listen, maybe lying in bed, surrounded by darkness. The layers becomes more pronounced, each strand separates and becomes an important piece of a complex arrangement. It’s the perfect night time headphone adventure in which to lose yourself.

The album is out now on Constellation Records.

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The band say the inspiration for the album came from the minimalism and abstract geometry in the work of visual artists such as Bridget Riley and Julian Stanczak. Although I am no art (or indeed music) critic, I can certainly see (or rather hear) what they’re getting at; the comparison serves as a good description of the feel of the record. The band’s other description of the album is that it’s “not meant to be super conceptual or anything, just a cool album of nighttime grass thoughts”. That works too.

Fellow Europeans can get the album from MIE Music and North Americans from Bark & Hiss Records. Be aware that the LPs have a very limited release so hurry up if you want one!

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