Album Premiere: Staran Wake

Staran Wake is the UK-based duo of Andrew Bunsell and Tom Relleen. On their self-titled debut, four years in the making, they create engaging arrangements built on repetition, texture, and introspection. Vivid soundscapes move with languid animation where emotional resonance builds in the cracks and shadows. This music, with precise architecture, allows sonic flourishes to drift and expand, finding emotive pathways toward our inner sanctum. When a surprise bass groove emerges behind layered guitar frippery. It’s all so spectral and enticing.

Throughout the album, viewpoints shift, and the aural river changes direction. Skeletal rhythms dance in the margins, a shattered mirror offering new angles of ourselves. On top, earworms squint to block out the sun, but bouncing piano motifs and anxious chord progressions tether the fanciful inclinations to the earth. This is a stunning debut.

The album releases on March 24 on vinyl and digital formats via Hands in the Dark. Stream the entire album early below and buy a copy HERE.


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