ÅHM 🇸🇪 - ‘Broken Beam’ (single)

I found myself searching through sites like MetaCritic and AlbumoftheYear this morning to try and find new post-rock releases I might have missed, but couldn’t quite find anything that stirred my interest, so it was genuinely lovely to be sent the brand new single by Swedish band ÅHM this afternoon, whom I hadn’t come across previously.

And having now spent some time with their earlier tracks, ‘Broken Beam’ feels like the most assured thing ÅHM have released so far. There’s real depth here, in the sound, the steady sense of build, and especially in the chord progressions, which give it a strong melodic feel. It’s well produced, immersive, and unhurried, allowing the atmosphere to develop naturally, and most importantly when they turn up the volume, they simply make a really good post rock noise.

But there is one other element I feel I should point out, and this week having covered breakdowns & tears, the apocalypse and accidentally discovering an entirely new genre (Pinegaze) after finding so many Scandinavian musicians staring mournfully into the same forest at the same time, you won’t be surprised to know that Broken Beam is also pretty melancholy and sad sounding. But whilst it does cause a flicker on the Mirel Wagner Scale of Bleakness (the official NMR measure of misery in songwriting), the melodic sound makes this pretty easy listening even on 1st listen.

Anyway delighted to cover ÅHM, and the new song suggests there’s plenty more depth to come. Their style of music would definitely suit the longer play EP or album format.

Release Date: 23rd January

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