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Les Dunes — From Etne to the Edge of Space
(Kapitän Platte kutter 075, 2025, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-10-06

From Etne to the Edge of Space Cover art

A number of years ago, I remember encountering the term “post-rock” and wondering what it could mean. I listened to some of the early bands given that label, such as Tortoise, Do Make Say Think, Labradford, and Godspeed You Black Emperor, and could agree with critics of the term that the bands didn’t really sound enough alike to constitute a proper musical genre. (All genre labels are essentially arbitrary, but sometimes a useful shorthand for describing similar artists.) However, there is a current crop of bands that do sound very similar, and I’m content applying the label to them. Norway’s Les Dunes is one of these. From Etne to the Edge of Space is the band’s second album, following on from their 2023 self-titled debut, and it is very much in the idiom of current bands like Mono and We Lost the Sea. Sometimes when I listen to an album like this, I wonder why I should bother listening to something that offers only very slight variations on ideas that I’ve encountered before, and what criteria fans of the style use to distinguish good from bad when it’s more or less the same as so many other bands. But then I remember that the same could be said of many styles like ambient electronic or even some flavors of progressive rock, not to mention EDM or modern country. Suffice it to say that listeners who are into current post-rock are likely to enjoy Les Dunes — I don’t hear much to distinguish them from other bands. It’s enjoyable enough while it’s playing, but eminently forgettable. The tempos are medium slow, the tracks all build from quiet to loud, the guitar melody always works its way to long notes of tremolo picking, and the production is atmospheric and expansive. There are no surprises, no faster sections, and no significant changes in instrumentation.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Les Dunes

More info
http://kapitaenplatte.bandcamp.com/album/from-etne-to-the-edge-of-space

 

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