Stereolith

In today's increasingly barren rock and roll landscape, Ulan Bator stand as beacons of explorative songwriting. Formed in Paris in 1993 by Amaury Cambuzat (vocals, guitar and keyboards) and Olivier Manchion (Bass), the band's atmospheric approach to composition has consistently yielded guitar-driven avant-rock at once hypnotic and untamed.

While their sound has developed in a variety of directions - often in relationship to changing line-ups and various collaborations, including with krautrock legends Faust and Swans' Michael Gira - Ulan Bator resist simple categorization: kraut-y repetition, post-rock guitar flourishes, kosmische synth work, intimate whispering and pounding drums have all taken an audible lead throughout their now twenty-year career.

Stereolith (2017) sees band mainstay and founding member Amaury Cambuzat continuing on in a tradition of experimental rock and roll, currently projected through a contemporary prism of electronics and synthesizers. Written while touring Abracadabra (2016) through Italy, Cambuzat pieced together the band's 12th LP on his laptop in various hotel rooms before eventually re-recording individual drum, bass and guitar parts in the studio.

The result is a crispness in sound that resists typical psych- and experimental cliches of washed-out und contourless improvisation. But perhaps the most impressive - and surprising - aspect of the album is its epicness.