“Fragment” by Astoria

Norway’s Astoria spent the last three years working on the songs that would become their new EP, Colder Than Before. That effort is readily apparent in the EP’s first single, “Fragment,” as the post-rock duo employ surging guitars, ceremonial percussion, and slow-burning arrangements with great patience and attention to detail.

The resulting emotional effect reminds me why I originally fell in love with this sort of musical sturm und drang back in the early days of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, and Sigur Rós. And speaking of Sigur Rós, Edvard Mortensholm employs the same sort of lilting vocalizations as Jónsi Birgisson, which work perfectly with the brooding music, especially when he sings “I’ll cry with you” against delicate guitar cascades.

To their credit, Astoria don’t stick with the tried and true post-rock template for all of Colder Than Before. To be sure, all five of the EP’s songs are cut from the same tonal cloth, but Mortensholm and bandmate Henrik Nilsen Mortensholm also employ plenty of electronics that, at times, given their music an almost synth-pop edge — in case you were ever wondering what a Depeche Mode/Mono collaboration might sound like.

Colder Than Before will be released on August 7, 2026.