Bathyscaphe are part of the new breed of post-rock band atmospheric instrumentalists like Godspeed You Black! Emperor, Tortoise and Set Fire To Flames, promoting a musical aesthetic that focuses more on actual performance than cute programming tricks.

Hailing from Paris, France, the band got their start by doing soundtrack work for film directors such as Lionel Delplanque, Georges Zsiga and Dan Salzmann, and have now released a debut full length which takes this soundtrack concept one step further. On the aptly titled Road Movie, they have indeed constructed a soundtrack to a film of the imagination.

Kicking off with an ambient bed of guitar drone and feedback, the band soon veer off into several directions at once, embracing atmospheric soundscapes, industrial noise, classical string pieces and some very captivating guitar melodies. Tracks like the rhythmically challenging but hypnotic Eyelash take the listener through a complex series of plucked guitar harmonics and sliding bass lines before taking the track into more uptempo waters.

Likewise, the band switch gears on Paluxy River, where they ditch the rock element completely in favour of a gorgeous string quartet that morphs from pristine glacial beauty to tension filled dread. Each of the seven tracks presented here dives into the unknown; there's a wonderful sense of tension and drama that rarely comes across in most music of this genre. If you're familiar with the output of labels like Constellation or Temporary Residence, you'll probably have a good idea of what this sounds like. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.