rvss.eel
I thought Bleed was very good, but not great. Disquiet, however, is greatness. An album of this length is risky, but it works as three disks individually, and as a three hour whole. Rapid Eye Movement and Ghost Net are equally propelling in completely different ways. Causeway is utterly beautiful from the opening notes, and sublimely shocking when the drums finally join in. Warm Running Sunlight seems to suspend time. Disquiet could be even longer if it wanted to.
This is my #5 album of 2025.
Favorite track: Causeway.
Giles
Astonishingly great, proving in the most maximal way that The Necks method is not a formula, it's an inexhaustible vein of very precious material. Every off-kilter cymbal pattern, subtle variation of tone, and shifting accent is utterly convincing and compelling and the emotional and intellectual depth is greater than ever.
Alex Mott
Absolutely love this music. I have never heard of them before but now looking forward to diving into the back catalogue. All the tracks are great but Causeway is the standout for me.
On Disquiet, The Necks stretch their immersive, shape-shifting sound across three discs and more than three hours of labyrinthine, patient intensity. This is their twentieth studio recording and it marks the 39th year of the band’s existence.
Meticulously recorded and sculpted, the four extended pieces on Disquiet see Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, and Lloyd Swanton pushing at the outer edges of their collective intuition, building and unraveling hypnotic structures with microscopic focus. Present is the usual arsenal of piano, double bass, and drums, and all the in-between of sounds undefined and sources obscured.
The music of The Necks has always carried a profound sense of shared responsibility –– between the players, of course, in their utter commitment to the improvisational –– but also between the work and its audience. With music so open, there are profound opportunities to choose: what to focus on, whether to focus at all, etc. Disquiet takes this further: there is no particular listening order prescribed. There is no “Disc 1, Disc 2, Disc 3.” The music itself seems to stretch time, and this presentation challenges ideas of sequencing. The Necks, one may argue, are a mode of discovery as much as they are a band.
Regarding the sound itself, The Necks’ signature restraint and textural depth remain, with subtle tonal shifts, evolving motifs, and roiling phases of keen and propulsive clatter, strains of subdued surprise and unmatched intentionality –– as ever, expansive and absorbing.
credits
released October 10, 2025
Composer: Abrahams/Buck/Swanton (control)
Recorded by Tim Whitten, Rancom St Studios, Botany, Australia
Mixed by Tim Whitten, Forbes Street Studios, Woolloomooloo, Australia
Mastered by Douglas Henderson, micro-moose-berlin, Germany
steady grooves with the sax of josh johnson dancing all over it. and when he takes a break, jeff slides in with something interesting. anna is a rock keeping everything together. the drumming is just perfect. listening to this enhances my life... i work to this, i drive to this, and i play it in shared spaces. lee
this album is the justification for the hundreds of hours this year alone i have put into listening to albums. this record has so much versatility, it could be very legitimately used as background noise, or it could be a full-blown story that takes you down many winding paths of tension and emotion. the only difference between these two scenarios is whatever you wanted this album to be. if you havent already, please let this be the reason that you check this album out :3 kaycs
Not sure what I was expecting, but I'm certainly not disappointed. Groovy and chill, with occasional excursions into avant-noise territory. And not a singer in sight (good).
Not a listen-everyday type release, but still a solid addition to the collection. Ghuughra
Influenced by Nils Frahm & Steve Reich, the French instrumentalist mixes ambient jazz with electronic elements and complex time signatures Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 11, 2026
whitelabrecs cannot miss and the latest from Catherine Tang is proof, with gorgeous piano melodies cascading over soft atmospherics. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 24, 2025
