Hermetic Delight + Zach Thompson

Hermetic Delight: Some songs stand tall, while others are destined to fall. This band, formed between Strasbourg and Ankara, navigates these shifts without a set roadmap. From the very beginning, their sound has drifted somewhere between Sub Pop’s jagged edges and 4AD’s shimmering mirages. Early on, they were brimming with energy, caught between shoegaze and noise (Heartbeat, 2012; To The Grave To The Rave, 2013). Vow (2016) tightened the sound with a rawer live recording. In 2020, F.A. Cult, produced by Charles Rowell (Crocodiles), marked a turning point: the pop sensibility came to the fore, the atmosphere felt more expansive, yet the tension never faded.
Today, you can hear their knack for holding onto a motif with obsessive focus while everything else shifts around it. Zeynep Kaya’s voice wraps around and carries the listener, stretching or tightening as each song unfolds. Delphine Padilla’s drumming brings a motorik drive where every strike feels choreographed. Atef Aouadhi makes the guitars and bass converse—sometimes sharp, sometimes clear—opening up space and guiding each track. Synths flare up or recede, unsettling or illuminating the melodies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hUCeIS1zZg
 

Born in Yorkshire and now based in Southeast London, Zach Thompson draws from the bardic and balladeer traditions of the British and Irish islands, filtering influences as varied as Dada poetry, biblical myth, nursery rhymes, newspaper columns, and everyday idioms into a singular songwriting voice. After years of local residencies and live performances, Thompson released his debut EP, *Algebra Parable*, last year, recorded live with a nine-piece band at Fish Factory Studios in London. Its follow-up, “On Platt’s Eyot,” expanded his sound even further, moving between surreal imagery, social commentary, and sprawling orchestral arrangements, cementing his reputation as one of the most distinctive new voices in contemporary folk music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkZwqlu-l5k