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Music

Radian's New Single Is a Staticky, Spectral Delight

The Thrill Jockey-signed trio share "Pickup Pickout" in advance of the November 11 release of 'On Dark Silent Off.'
Photo by Rania Moslam

The Austrian trio Radian have spent the better part of the last two decades dizzily issuing asymmetrical pieces for electronics—casually melding traditional rock instruments to more abstract instrumentation in subtly shapeshifting arrangements. Next week, on November 11, they'll issue their sixth proper studio album On Dark Silent Off on Thrill Jockey, and with it comes the promise of more chameleonic composition, rhythmic contortion, and general otherworldly exploration.

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Today, though they're sharing the single "Pickup Pickout," a small taste of the record's delicately layered twists and turns. The single starts with a nauseous series of overlapping electric guitar lines that wouldn't sound too out of place on a Fennesz piece, before congealing into something even more wonderfully sickly. Rigidly clattering drum parts and the unsettling swoon of spectral static make this feel like a body-horror update of krautrock's ecstatic drama—instead of confronting the world around it with wonder, it sulks in shock and fear.

Listen below in advance of On Dark Silent Off's release on Thrill Jockey on November 11.