QUADE, THE FOEL TOWER

Within the remote Welsh valley of Elan stands the domed Foel Tower, a stone structure filled with valves and cylinders designed to raise and lower the Garreg Ddu reservoir’s water levels. Not far from the tower sits Nannerth Ganol Studios, a stone barn surrounded by barren moors, where Bristol band Quade spent ten days recording their second album. The stark, isolated landscape, shaped by wind, water, and history, became as much a part of the record as the music itself.

With the Foel Tower symbolizing the historical tensions between industrial expansion and rural displacement, and the valley serving as both a literal and metaphorical sanctuary, the barn offered a space for open dialogue and shared healing. Against this backdrop, Quade wove personal reflections into a textured soundscape, threading themes of connection to place, loss, resilience, and renewal throughout, a style they half-jokingly describe as “doomer sad boy, ambient-dub, folk, experimental post-rock.”

Quade approaches The Foel Tower with a confidence that leaves no room for joking. Their sound embraces the spirit of Bark Psychosis' Hex, the landmark album released 31 years earlier for which the term "post-rock" was first coined. It takes a bold band to occupy a similar musical space, and Quade does so with conviction. The Foel Tower draws clear lines to post-rock’s origins while pushing forward, favoring atmosphere, place, and form over traditional songwriting. Their compositions shift naturally between quiet intimacy and expansive force, de-emphasizing conventional structures and using instrumentation in non-traditional ways to build mood and movement. Ultimately, The Foel Tower stands as a statement of Quade’s growing artistry, offering an immersive listening experience.