Sergeant

Belgian avant-pop outfit Sergeant return to STROOM with a second album and a new member. RIYL Milan W, Total Blue or Animal Collective.

Since 2023's self-titled debut album, movie bro Benjamin Cools and actor Ferre Marnef have invited a new artist into the fold. The project was initially conceived as a live band, so the additional personnel just allows Sergeant to spread their creative wings; 'Symbols' is a more complicated record than its predecessor, packed out with byzantine arrangement and layered compositions, but it's also tighter. There's a feeling that their influences - '80s DIY pop, krautrock and post-punk - have been more fluidly lashed together this time around and Marnef's voice sounds more assured bedded in his collaborators' woozy, sometimes spiky productions. 

If their last record was "DJ Shadow in reverse", made from collaged elements and half-songs, 'Symbols' is a suite of proper compositions that dissolve as they play out, with tempos fluctuating and components mutating and vaporizing as Marnef sings. It's pop music that's engineered with Martin Hannett's ear for wacked-out production - fans of Ariel Pink (before he went full fash) or Panda Bear's 'Person Pitch' should investigate without delay.