SPECTRAL GATES is a Sydney-based multi-instrumental duo. Their debut album, released in March 2020, was the product of a single improvised session and traced a line from noisy post-rock to energetic, dubby electro. Lead track 's9c28' received extensive airplay and streaming on Sydney radio and Spotify.

Thwarted by lockdown - they had played a single show before Sydney's venues shut - but energized by the warm support for their first release, the band expanded their DIY home studios and got to work on what would become three albums of new material.

'holocene' is the first (and heaviest) of these new releases, and builds on the distorted post-rock elements from their debut self-titled album. Lead track 'system16' and 'mirror maze' are sandblasted math-disco; 'lumbar' and 'sludge2' mix percussive loops and heavily processed guitar mantras; title track 'holocene' is dub-metal meets 70's progressive.

"The whole first album was about the electricity in the room on the day, and we tried to keep as much of that feeling as we could, but we wanted to expand the sound and scope as well. We did a ton of preparation for the gigs we'd planned this year, and we recorded everything, so we had a lot to work with. On the new records, threads of rehearsal tapes and room sound are spliced in with first takes and demos dredged up from long-broken equipment."

'system16' video clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yij3ZMUC6Mg
'holocene' scroller clip: spectralgates.com/holocene.html