Christophe Macquat, Sébastien Bandelier and Marc Theurillat are good lads, most likely. Their names smell of nature and watchmaking, good work and the scent of damp valleys. Together they formed a band called Ølten in 2012. That’s when the smell started to turn: oil, scrap iron, aztranine, the heavy clinking of the shunting yard. They sound a bit like that, plus something else. With guitar, bass and drums, Ølten write the soundtrack to a cold party: the mechanics of rhythm; distortion that wears out your ears like an old axe from the museum of logging; bass lines that make the Red Army Chorus sound feeble; turns, sharper than a long-haul flight dropping like a stone; torn melodies resting on embers… They refer to their own sound as “post rock sludge”. Cult of Luna or Sunn O))) are never far indeed. Ølten take you and knock you out, to your utter delight.