Whispering Sons - Several Others (LP) - Rust Vinyl

Several Others landed in June 2021 and felt like a cold night breeze blowing straight out of Brussels. Whispering Sons had already carved out a reputation for flinty, modern post‑punk on their debut, but this second album tightened the screws. The songs are lean, the tension is palpable, and Fenne Kuppens’ low, ironclad vocal sits front and centre like a lighthouse beam cutting through fog. It is the sort of record that finds its power in restraint. Every drum hit sounds measured, every guitar stab chosen for maximum sting.

“Surface” set the tone as an early single, all clipped guitars, tom‑heavy pulse and a vocal that feels half‑confession, half‑incantation. The band keeps the arrangement spare, so when the chorus blooms it actually feels like someone opening a window. “Surgery” digs in harder, a taut, nervy track that rides a coiled bassline and lets the guitars flicker like fluorescent lights. It has that anxious momentum you get from classic post‑punk, but the playing never gets messy. Whispering Sons always sound in control, even when the mood is on the verge of snapping.

“Satantango” is the slow burn, its title nodding to Béla Tarr’s marathon film, and the song earns the reference with patient, unsettling pacing. The band understands negative space, letting notes hang and air gather around the kit until the tension becomes its own hook. You can hear how they’ve grown since Image, not by piling on more parts, but by trimming everything back. The result is a record that feels both bigger and emptier in the best way, like a stark room where every footstep echoes.

Kuppens is a commanding presence throughout. Her tone is low and centred, and she rarely overplays emotion, which makes the moments of heat land harder. There is a literary quality to the lyrics, alluding to dislocation, memory, bodies under pressure. Yet the music keeps it physical. The drums thud and snap, the bass keeps its shoulders square, and the guitars are drenched in just enough chorus to conjure modernist concrete and wet pavement. If you have a soft spot for the Belgian lineage that runs from cold wave into today’s darker indie corners, this scratches that itch without feeling retro.

Production wise, Several Others is clean but never glossy. You can pick out the room around the kit, and the guitars have texture rather than fuzz. It suits the writing. Songs like “Surface” and “Surgery” are built for precision, and the band plays like a single organism. That sense of unity has been their signature since they won Humo’s Rock Rally back in 2016, and it carries them here. They do not crowd Kuppens, they set her up. When she locks into a phrase, the band tightens underneath and lets the words do the damage.

It is also an album that rewards the turntable. On Several Others vinyl, the low end breathes, the toms feel rounder, and small details in the guitar tails emerge in the run‑out of each chorus. If you are crate‑digging in a Melbourne record store, keep an eye out for a clean copy, or buy Whispering Sons records online if you want to skip the hunt. Whispering Sons albums on vinyl tend to hold their value because the music sits right in that zone between club‑night favourite and at‑home late‑evening staple. For anyone building a shelf of post‑punk and dark indie next to the usual suspects, this belongs there. It is the one you put on when the room gets quiet and you want the walls to listen.

There is no filler. Even the deeper cuts feel like they could anchor a set, and the sequencing keeps the pulse steady without falling into monotony. The band trusts repetition, but they know when to shift a snare accent or pull a guitar line into focus. That craft is what separates Several Others from the glut of noir‑ish post‑punk around at the moment. It is not just mood, it is muscle memory and good taste.

If you are new to the band, start here and work back. If you are already in, you will hear a group sharpening what they do best. The record feels like a lived‑in space, crisp and shadowed, with a voice that never blinks. Whispering Sons vinyl spins a little colder than most, which is exactly the point. And for those browsing vinyl records Australia wide, this is one to grab now, play loud, and let it unravel over time.