SWRM - 2025 - Lights Out

(43:03; Cuneiform)






















This is the second album from Alec K. Redfearn (vocals, Moog Matriarch, Sequential Circuits Trigon 6, Korg ms20, Eurorack modular synth and field recordings) and Matt McLaren (drums percussion, harmonica and neyanban), and while I have not heard the other one, I do know both these guys from Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores. According to PA these guys are Krautrock, while the label recommends this for fans of Neu!, Faust, Suicide, Gary Numan, Silver Apples, Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores, and I think they’re both wrong. While there are indeed elements of all of the above in this, I believe they have far more in common with pronk, and bands like Cardiacs and (especially) early Poisoned Electrick Head.  

Although the music is based around synths and percussion (plus a hauntingly weird harmonica), it feels very “real’ and earthy, bringing in influences of psych, prog, space rock, minimal wave, and post-punk. It is experimental, yet it is also somewhat commercial in that one can see fans of David Byrne also getting a great deal from this and its angular approach. There is something about this album which is weirdly compelling, dark and dramatic, and the bass sounds coming from the Moog Matriarch are deep and reverberating. It certainly does not sound as if it was coming to us from 2025 and even in the Nineties this would have appeared somewhat dated, with the analogue synths obviously having a major part to play. There are times when it appears quite simplistic and repetitive, but this is the direction in which the muse has taken them, and we are just along for the ride, and it is impossible to look away.

Cuneiform often relish in releasing music which can be somewhat “difficult” on first play, but this is almost the reverse in that it is only when it is played on repeat that the darker and more complex layers allow themselves to appear. If you like any of the bands or genres mentioned in this review, or want to discover something which is both dated and very much of now, then this is worth investigating.  

Kev Rowland, October 2025

Links:
https://www.instagram.com/swrm_pvd/
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/

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