Setting : Setting
Setting‘s music is always moving, always active—even when it approximates stillness. It’s atmospheric but not ambient per se, failing Brian Eno’s ignorable to interesting ratio by the sheer fact of its dynamism, developing from the barest suggestion of base elements into a series of big bangs of chemical and alchemical reactions that only produce brighter flames at each point in the chain. Even their most restrained moments on record, like the hypnotically reverberant closer “What Kind of Fish is a Turtle” on their self-titled sophomore album and Thrill Jockey debut, still offers the suggestion of momentum, synths phasing, bell tones rippling, and eventually a proper melody of sorts plucked from the firmament, the piece slowly coming alive.
The North Carolina trio of multi-instrumentalists Nathan Bowles, Jaime Fennelly, and Joe Westerlund have a chemistry that’s both fluid and ecstatic on their blend of kosmische, folk and post-rock on their second album, their respective histories of playing in projects such as Pelt, Wrekmeister Harmonies and Califone helping to flex their musical muscles prior to now. It’s evident early on in a piece like the Neu!-weird Americana of “Heard a Bubble” that there’s both an ease and an infectious playfulness to their sound, Bowles’ banjo plucks bouncing off Westerlund’s loose but locked-in rhythms as Fennelly’s synth arpeggios drift skyward like colorful vapor. The nine-minute progression of the song feels a little like watching a loose outline filling in with vibrant color before your eyes.
It’s in the lengthier moments on the album that Setting offer up some of their most spectacular material, using the extended runway they allow themselves for even bolder flights. “Derring-do” is one of them, a mystical psychedelic gallop that converges into a frenzy of intricate melodic spirals and a slowly growing rhythmic intensity, with synths and hammer dulcimer each forming layers in a dense and intoxicating mist. The arc of the 10-minute “Ribbon of Moss” is less dramatic but no less remarkable, employing more space as a backdrop for an even more emotional performance from Bowles in its middle stretch, only for a final rush of maximalist beauty to drive it home. Still, there’s no denying the fun of a track like “Gum Bump,” which eases itself into a slo-mo synth-funk pocket, its groove undeniable even as it takes its time to get where it needs to go.
When all three players are locked in—which is the vast majority of the album—Setting has the feel of a phenomenal jazz combo in mid-groove, in ethos if not always in sound, their style always morphing from drone to folk to krautrock throb without ever losing the pulse at its core. It’s physical and it’s exploratory, nearly impossible not to be caught up in the rapture of it all. Fennelly described Setting’s sophomore album in a statement as “one of the most joyous albums I’ve made with other musicians,” and there’s nothing lost in the translation.
Label: Thrill Jockey
Year: 2026
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Setting : Setting
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