La Carte Re

"Stare Away, the solo project of New York City-based musician Ben Nelson, deals in music where atmosphere isn't decorative - it's load-bearing. In Absence, his seven-song debut EP on à La Carte Records, is built on brooding, synth-driven arrangements and melodies that linger well past their welcome. Rooted in the emotional vocabulary of post-punk and new wave without feeling like a nostalgia exercise, the record carries the shadowed grandeur of The Chameleons into firmly present-tense territory. From the urgent propulsion of ""Parting Ways"" to the cinematic sweep of ""Familiar,"" In Absence moves between moods with deliberate precision - restless, melancholic, and impossible to shake. ""Nelson's eerie, echoing vocals create a sense of unease and alienation that lingers like an uninvited guest who refuses to leave."" - Post-Punk.com

Brooklyn synth duo Observation Room return with their debut LP "Superstructure" (à La Carte Records, September 11), the record where Marina F and Chloe Olson trade the hypnotic chill of their self-titled EP for something deeper and dreamier. Drawing on krautrock's locked grooves, late-'70s experimental synth, Tangerine Dream's widescreen drift, and the cinematic reach of Depeche Mode and Book of Love, "Superstructure" makes cold music feel warm. Lyrics zoom from intimate paranoia out to the political machinery that shapes it; dissonance, mechanical bloops, and field recordings give the record its grain, while vocal harmonies sharpened over a year of live shows give it its center. Produced and mixed by Marina F in Brooklyn; mastered by Sharon Aiza Engel at Punctum Stains. Pressed on olive-in-green and apple red 12" vinyl, with logos by Nat Cherry and photography by Tim O'Connell.

Tilburg post-punk quartet Docile Bodies return with their sophomore LP "Rest" (à La Carte Records, October 23), eight tracks that trade the catharsis of 2024's "Light Will Come Our Way" for something slower, more patient, and unwilling to resolve. Sjoerd Aarden, Tadzio van Bel, Hans Diks, and Merl van der Markt write through emptied rooms, fractured belief systems, and the soft furniture of childhood reconfigured as echo - a record that listens closely to grief without trying to explain it. The lineage is clear: the chilled architectures of Joy Division, the blunt-force restraint of Iceage, the slow-release intensity both rely on. The register is the band's own. Produced and mixed by Wessel van den Broek, mastered by Wessel Oltheten, with cover photography by Jón Helgi Palmáson and design by Cowards Way. Pressed on two limited 12" vinyl variants.

Sweet Love Under Tyranny: Self Titled [Vinyl LP]

Portland synth-punk quartet La Isla Electronica arrive with their debut LP "3:17" (à La Carte Records, November 13) - nine songs, twenty-four minutes, sung in Spanish. Susana Sainz, Ian Howe, Amy Kay, and AJ McClary split the difference between the cold romanticism of early-80s Spanish underground electronic music (Aviador Dro, Décima Víctima, Esplendor Geométrico) and the bright-edged urgency of femme-fronted American new wave (The Go-Go's, Chin-Chin, Missing Persons). The album writes through migration without sounding like a migration record: memories of Spain bleeding into the strange glow of an American dream that won't quite finish loading. Engineered and mixed by Evan Mersky at Red Lantern Studios in Portland; mastered by Sasha Stroud. Cover paintings by Matt Cosby. Pressed on two limited 12" vinyl variants.