Setting is a trio of multi-instrumentalists: Jaime Fennelly, Nathan Bowles and Joe Westerlund. All are involved in other projects, and their self-titled debut feels like a super group meeting. Playing spot the influences of Setting may not be difficult — minimalism, psych, post/space rock, early electronica, prog — but namechecking styles doesn’t do justice to the stirring amalgam of the aforementioned that buoys their creations. Still, on more than one track I wondered if this is what it would sound like if Steve Reich jammed with Tangerine Dream or Tortoise partied with Delia Derbyshire and Bob Moog. Indeed, there is a bit of the latter fantasy pairing on the album’s opener, “Heard a Bubble,” with a loping ostinato underpinning a swooping monophonic synth solo that has a decidedly Whovian cast. It sets the pacing for the recording at nine minutes in duration, enough to stretch out but not so long as to take up a whole album side with a single composition.
Similarly, “Gum Bump” is just shy of eight minutes in duration. It has a funky bass-driven groove as its underpinning, with nimble keyboard solos strewn along its path. “What Kind of Fish is a Turtle” features tubular bells and a sustained drone, subsequently augmented by imposing slabs of sliding sine tones. “Ribbon of Moss” has a plaintive melody, first played in a guitar chord solo and later taken up in the electronics end of the activities, which also contain a wide range of varied timbres in suave accompaniment figurations. The piece closes with the tune returning, this time in the bass register, a nod towards post-rock, particularly TNT.
Setting closes with “Derring - Do,” on which syncopated rhythms and morse code repeated notes offset swelling synths. A second part sees the drumming tick up and the repeated note pattern proliferate into several layers of interwoven motives. Partway through is an oasis where sustained tones come to the fore, followed by another passage reasserting guitar and percussion. The balance moves between these two demeanors, eventually ceding to a gradual denouement of held tones that create a web of harmonies. Setting’s recording is engaging from start to finish. A favorite among the first half of 2026’s releases.
