Puis surgit « Rain and Sirens », titre plus calme en apparence, mais en réalité traversé d’une intensité fiévreuse. La batterie évoque ici un déluge lointain, presque black metal dans son intention, mais volontairement sous-mixée, comme engloutie sous les textures de guitare qui dominent l’espace sonore. On imagine l’instrument perdu quelque part sous la mer, perceptible mais assez lointain, jusqu’à ce qu’il jaillisse réellement dans les trente dernières secondes, offrant une conclusion brève mais impressionnante à ce morceau court et ravageur. Avec « Ocean East, Ocean West », la basse prend le relais, vibrante, enveloppante, créant une nappe sonore sur laquelle les guitares se déploient avec une férocité familière : impossible de ne pas reconnaître la signature de Jake Woodruff, héritée de son passé chez Defeater, tant chaque riff semble animé d’une urgence viscérale.

L’album gagne ensuite en luminosité avec « Hairspring », un titre plus mélodique, porté par de larges crescendos qui rappellent irrésistiblement Mono et Mogwai. On y retrouve cette capacité à faire monter la tension par paliers laissant les émotions se superposer jusqu’à atteindre un point d’embrasement parfaitement maîtrisé. « Minus Power » poursuit cette dynamique, affirmant la dimension post metal du disque avec une densité sonore qui dépasse largement les frontières du post rock auquel le groupe est pourtant étiqueté. Enfin, « (Deluge in a paper cup) » clôt le voyage sur une pièce qui sonne presque comme une démo : le son résonne de manière assez brute, comme si nous écoutions une démo, avant de basculer vers un territoire proche du post black, intensifié par la présence de Takaakira Goto de Mono en featuring.

Au-delà de sa texture musicale, l’album porte une charge conceptuelle forte. Le nom du groupe comme celui de l’album s’inspire du livre de 2024 de Hanif Abdurraqib, There’s Always This Year, qui célèbre la résilience collective et la puissance du lien créatif. Jagged City transpose cet esprit au cœur même de sa musique, conçue comme une invitation à partager . Ce premier disque trouve parfaitement sa place dans le catalogue Pelagic, qui sait ici faire rencontrer les héritages de Defeater, Explosions In The Sky et The Armed pour en faire une identité commune, déjà dense mais qui mériterait à s’étendre en longueur.

Tracklist :
1.    (Don’t Dream its over)
2.    Imaginary lines
3.    Rain and sirens
4.    Ocean East, Ocean West
5.    Hairspring
6.    Minus Power
7.    (Deluge In A Paper Cup)

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Newcomers to Pelagic Records, Jagged City brings together Jake Woodruff (Defeater) and Carlos Torres (Explosions In The Sky), later joined by Urian Hackney (The Armed, Rough Francis) for their first project, There Are More Of Us, Always. A trio that suggests impeccable post-rock, but which reveals from the very first notes an identity much more rooted in dense, edgy post-metal.

Jagged City‘s debut album, There Are More Of Us, Always, opens with ‘(Don’t Dream it’s Over)’, an introduction in which the guitar unfurls a resonance that is both gentle and disturbing. From these first notes, the trio lays the foundations for an album that constantly navigates between atmospheric fragility and muffled tension. This mood continues in ‘Imaginary Lines’, a track that seems to carry the weight of a difficult ordeal: a palpable, almost resigned melancholy that stretches out as if we were still walking under the shock of what we have just been through.

Then comes ‘Rain and Sirens’, a track that appears calmer on the surface, but is in fact shot through with a feverish intensity. The drums here evoke a distant deluge, almost black metal in their intent, but deliberately under-mixed, as if swallowed up by the guitar textures that dominate the soundscape. One imagines the instrument lost somewhere under the sea, perceptible but quite distant, until it really bursts forth in the last thirty seconds, offering a brief but impressive conclusion to this short and devastating track. With ‘Ocean East, Ocean West’, the bass takes over, vibrant and enveloping, creating a soundscape over which the guitars unfold with familiar ferocity: it’s impossible not to recognise Jake Woodruff’s signature style, inherited from his past with Defeater, as each riff seems driven by a visceral urgency.

The album then gains in brightness with ‘Hairspring’, a more melodic track, carried by broad crescendos that irresistibly recall Mono and Mogwai. Here we find the same ability to build tension in stages, allowing emotions to overlap until reaching a perfectly controlled flashpoint. ‘Minus Power’ continues this dynamic, affirming the post-metal dimension of the record with a sonic density that goes far beyond the boundaries of post-rock, the genre with which the band is often labelled. Finally, ‘(Deluge in a paper cup)’ closes the journey with a track that sounds almost like a demo: the sound resonates in a rather raw way, as if we were listening to a demo, before shifting into territory closer to post-black metal, intensified by the presence of Takaakira Goto from Mono as a featured artist.

Beyond its musical texture, the album carries a strong conceptual charge. The band’s name, like the album’s title, is inspired by Hanif Abdurraqib‘s 2024 book, There’s Always This Year, which celebrates collective resilience and the power of creative connection. Jagged City transposes this spirit into the very heart of its music, conceived as an invitation to share. This debut album fits perfectly into the Pelagic catalogue, which here brings together the legacies of Defeater, Explosions In The Sky and The Armed to create a common identity that is already dense but deserves to be expanded further.