Aerial - My God, It's Full of Stars

There's a certain taboo about 'noise' bands: It's all random, or droning, or endless blurs parading as high art. These criticisms may apply to bands at the extreme ends of the genre but not to Aerial. Formed in Sweden in 2005, their UK debut My God, It's Full of Stars is mostly instrumental yet deals with themes of men and machines and their ultimate unity. The band creates melodies delicate enough to differentiate each track yet some structures still repeat often enough throughout the album to imply a cohesive whole. This could create a problem for them: too melodic to be a noise band yet too dense to be a pop band. But equally, whoever spends the time to listen to …Stars will find something individually appealing. (Hamza K)