Post-Punk Shoegaze with a Lush Surge of Platonic Romanticism –

The debut single, LIBRE, All Combined, writhes with platonic romanticism and floods the bones with the kind of emotion Bowie channelled in ‘Heroes’, caught in a swirl of post-punk melancholy and shoegaze gauziness. With angular guitar licks slicing through the haze and a bassline that clings like memory, there’s an archive of aching devotion in every note that affirms your soul instead of trying to break your heart.

Instead of hiding behind a typical wall of fuzzed-out noise, All Combined lets the textures speak, lets the vocals bleed with a paradox of deadpan soul, and lets the shimmer sit close enough to reach without ever giving in to gloss. The mood simmers in dreamily sludged aesthetics, but LIBRE don’t let it drift too far from a tether of emotional clarity. The track hypnotically curls itself around you, echoing the kind of late-night thoughts that know exactly which memories have shaped you — and which ones still hurt to hold.

Copenhagen’s LIBRE have shown their hand early: this is a band intent on tugging souls in from the void with noisy delicacy. All Combined, mixed by Brian Batz, is for the melancholics who grew up backing The Chameleons over Joy Division, and for those who still want their post-punk adjacent releases served with a warm swell of affection rather than monochrome despair. With this debut, you can let go of apathy and hold on to something far more worthwhile.

All Combined is now available on all major streaming platforms. Find your preferred way to listen here.
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Review by Amelia Vandergast