Quade

Bristol's Quade hit a tender note on their sophomore album, burying the Krautrock and post-punk influences to present a folk-flushed response to Talk Talk and Bark Psychosis's hallowed soundscapes.

Barney Matthews, Leo Fini, Matt Griffiths and Tom Connolly's first Quade album, 2023's 'Nacre', was a promising blueprint that began to reach beyond the motorik experimentation that characterised 'Spiral', their Can and Neu! influenced debut EP. 'The Foel Tower' advances the concept in almost every way; by capitalising on their love of Bristolian slowcore pioneers Movietone and post-rock instigators Bark Psychosis, their atmospheric vignettes have grown deeper roots.

Describing the album as “doomer sad boy, ambient-dub, folk, experimental post-rock," Quade are hyper-aware of their influences and clear about their intentions, and it pays off. It's a direct, fully-formed set that's well trimmed and impeccably produced; if its predecessor was a collage of moody gestures and scratchy violins that hinted at more than it provided, 'The Foel Tower' is the finished article. It doesn't take long to coalesce, either. Opener 'Beckett' is a quiet storm that's immediately affecting, led at first by Matthews' dubby bassline and vulnerable voice before Connolly's shrill fiddle provides the folk brawn. It's the subtle production that has us floored; everything's got its place, and the relative emptiness is only occasionally blocked by Fini's tidal percussion and Griffiths' restrained synthwork and tape loops.