Astral Bakers

After introducing you to the Paris-based band Astral Bakers some time ago, they now return with their second album, Vertical Life — a record that nestles effortlessly into your ears and could easily become the soundtrack to just about literally anything. Where their debut The Whole Story unfolded in soft-grunge shades of hazy folk and atmospheric rock, Vertical Life feels like a moment of arrival — both musically and emotionally.

Astral Bakers are the kind of band you feel didn’t set out to find each other—but did anyway. Four musicians, each with their own path, came together in a room and began to play. Not as a project, but as something instinctive. Some call it acoustic rock, others hear soft grunge. In warm, wooden rooms, they composed their first songs, repeating them over and over.