The Italian quartet, PIATCIONS, have just dropped their psychedelic-shoegaze tour de force, ‘Senseless > Sense’, and it’s one of the best homages to the ‘un-contemporary’ that I’ve heard in a long time.

What is most encapsulating about this subtly brilliant album is the artwork. Mirroring a strong vein of surrealism, the quasi-silhouettes of the band sit just behind an ominous backdrop of brooding colours. Their music runs parallel to their visual aesthetic; a trait that most contemporary bands haven’t seemed to quite master. They counterbalance this with an incredibly stylish back cover; a nod to their modern influence.

Whereas the colours suggest a ‘free for all’ attitude that was so popular in the 1970’s, the image suggests a band that is incredibly focused in what they do. A visual oxymoron in its most trippy form.

Highlight: ‘Milk & Honey’ is the aural equivalent of a Hunter S. Thompson adventure. With free flowing instrumentation and a careless disregard for formatted song writing, they strike a powerful balance between the orderly and the disorderly.