O Emperor’s Bearded List

After separating from Universal to go it alone and truly embrace the DIY aesthetic, roving alt.-rock troubadours O Emperor released Vitreous, arguably the pinnacle of their illustrious career so far. The Irish quintet eloquently state on their Facebook profile that the album, compared to previous effort Hither Thither, “presents the listener with a starker, polychrome and pixelated picture. Heavily distorted drums take their place alongside syrupy analogue synths and disgusting fuzz guitars sounding like bees buzzing inside tin cans. Beautiful landscapes are destroyed with disparate, abrasive sounds in perverse displays of artistic self-destruction.”

Indeed, their music is a cave-wall scrawl, deliciously imperfect and roughly hewn. Their big-label emancipation has clearly done wonders; free to bluster forth in whichever direction they chose, the band opted for greatness.

As they're so blimmin' lovely, the guys have made a playlist for us, which details current favourites and sonic inspirations. Listen below.