pôt-pot – Warsaw 480km

"Warsaw 480km" is the debut album by Irish/Portuguese quintet pôt-pot, blending the driving grooves of Krautrock with a phosphorescent psych-rock aura, underscored by harmonium drones, hypnotic male-female vocal harmonies, and deep layers of raw textures.

Primarily formed from demos by multi-instrumentalist and lead singer Mark Waldron-Hyden during a time of grief and personal upheaval, the album was brought to life through a series of full-lineup live studio sessions, documenting an extraordinary range of talents united in an embrace of raw catharsis with a sweetly sinister edge. A crucial element of "Warsaw 480km" is its impressive range of influences and atmospheric landscapes.

Waldron-Hyden describes: "I wrote the first songs when I wasn't really living in one place yet, so I think they feel somewhat ephemeral—developing them with the band helped me process a time when I was emotionally free, so they remind me equally of the beautiful experiences we shared as a creative unit and the difficult times that inspired them." The lead single, "WRSW," exemplifies this complexity, with its robust rhythmic backbone carrying tremolo guitars, a thrumming harmonium, and a half-spoken, Lou Reed-esque vocal line where the verse and chorus blend beautifully.

Above all, "Warsaw 480km" is an album that achieves its richness and aura through deliberate austerity, as Waldron-Hyden explains: "Ollie [Oliver Smith] and Sara [Sara Leslie] are experts at getting the most out of a pedal, a crappy amp, and a borrowed guitar, a result of innate talent and years of experience; they use some modulation for droning passages, but it's their playing styles and understanding of the vibe that are the secret ingredients."

This kind of intuitive connection and collaboration is incredibly rare, and with these ten tracks, pôt-pot accomplish something truly otherworldly, alchemizing deep pain into a luminous reverie. For fans of Lewsberg, Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Velvet Underground, The Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Uranium Club, Night Beats, Goat, Black Lips.