Primates

The excellent and rising label Howlin’ Banana Records, which you certainly haven’t heard the last of here, is treating us at the close of 2019 by spotlighting one of the finest acts in its stable: BASTON.

After a successful debut EP, GESTURE, released in 2015, the French Rennes-based band resurfaces after four long years of absence to deliver an excellent new effort titled PRIMATES — crafted with far more maturity, control, and precision than its predecessor.

Now a quartet after being a trio, the band has capitalized on what made their early work so successful — namely, psychedelic rock with hypnotic undertones — while gradually evolving their music toward a hazier, more repetitive texture. Sitting halfway between shoegaze and cold-wave, they deliver a unique result that is bound to carry you away from the very first to the final note.

With PRIMATES, the band steadily solidifies its sonic DNA, delivering a cohesive and accomplished debut album that we will hopefully get the chance to experience live very soon.