/A\ – /A\ LP (Hummus Records)

I have to admit that the sheer amount of brilliant new groups blows my mind regularly. No matter which genre we’re talking about, you can always find out something to keep you entertained for a while, and most of these brand new groups sound surprisingly good. /A\ is one of those bands that blew me away as soon as I played their debut vinyl on the turntable. This Swiss trio contains everything you need to get through the day, week, month, maybe even a year. Their music is calmy, soothing, relaxing, and capable of healing your soul in times when you desperately need it. Recently, their debut vinyl record arrived at our headquarters, so I decided to give it a well-deserved review treatment.

This self-titled recording contains seven diverse compositions, fully stacked with impressive ideas and excellent musical performance. Perhaps their sound could be described as dream pop, but music unquestionably showcases much more than that. Besides dream pop, you may encounter some other ingredients like psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, shoegaze, noise rock, noise, grunge, experimental, industrial, and lo-fi. Still, /A\ incorporates all these ingredients and gathers them under the experimental pop branch. The trio handles all these elements with such ease, and each one of the presented compositions reveals a slightly different approach to the sound. The rhythm and lead vocals are constantly present in this unique blend, while other elements levitate depending on the current direction of the group.

I find it beautiful how /A\ floats between psychedelic dream pop and shoegazey lo-fi, then all of a sudden transits into more experimental, glitchy, industrial pop without losing all the psychedelic aesthetics. There’s a certain amount of tension, eerieness, weirdness in their more industrial-oriented tunes, while those dreamy ones are more calmy and soothing. You’ll notice some explorations into more ambient pop, dark pop, and electro-pop waters, especially as you proceed towards the closure of this brilliant material. Like all other elements included in this comprehensive collection of various genres, these beforementioned subgenres of pop music also suit them well. You’ll be blown away by their ideas, catchiness, musicianship, and the ability to adapt to almost every genre you could possibly think of at the moment. This self-titled debut comes on vinyl, compact disc, and digital. Head over to Hummus Records for more detailed information about ordering.