We’ve been here before. Buoyant strings gallop as powerfully as Arthur Russell’s (“La Ciénaga”). A pulsing, flowing rhythm section resembles the tightknit Black Country, New Road, recalling the ensemble’s own subdued yet dreamy “Track X” (“Cactus Flower”). Pianos cascade down like tears, pouring a gentle, tender quality into these vivid Bon Iver-esque tapestries (“Oil Derrick”). A deep, baritone voice like Dean Blunt crossed with Benjamin Clementine—coolness and soul—delivers esoteric poeticism with the same thoughtful, perseverant acceptance of Injury Reserve’s RiTchie in the face of devastation (“Tomatoes”). To say Photokem’s musical medley here is delectable would be a drastic understatement.
Like the Black Country, New Road iteration behind their aforementioned early hit, Photokem are similarly transient: A Mat in their Garden is both their debut and last album. The five-piece band comprises Nana Acheampong, Nico Fennell, Jack Kelly, Evan Ryckebusch, and Wolfgang Hunter, who formed in 2021 as students at the University of Texas at Austin. They quietly self-released three EPs before tackling their full-length debut, and it’s finally here, but the band is not—a dissolution that stings upon learning they only performed the material twice in New York.
A Mat in the Garden is an incredibly full-hearted body of work deserving so much more than scarce attention. Its six agile songs radiate life with expressive free-falling movement, each a maximalist crossbreed of art-pop, indie rock, post-rock, and neoclassical sensibilities so richly produced by Fennell. It’s revelatory considering these are largely home recordings across the members’ Brooklyn apartments. It oozes tenderness—Acheampong utilises his voice to play with the shape of words, his input morphing into an instrument itself. Collaborator Charlotte Weinman of Horsepower offers her soft-spoken, airy vocal that complements Acheampong’s lived-in, raspy baritone—a sense of connection is immediately felt. That notion is exemplified to the highest degree by the rest of the band, their exceptional musical prowess densely arranged to exude a complexity truly beyond a mere bedroom recording.
It may not be fair to point to reference points as the broad appeal, but that’s where a lot of the magic lies—the comprehensive ground of A Mat in the Garden that Photokem so confidently and swiftly draw from on their first and final outing is majestic. It’s a stunning catharsis—acoustics elegantly entangled with electronics like dramatic vines, embodying a warm, continuous appreciation for the whirlwind of being human. Photokem guide us back to sounds that feel satisfyingly familiar—the love, hurt, and joy that their likenesses and predecessors have explored. While Photokem themselves have left, they’ve gracefully left us with something beautiful, so we can stay with the familiar as long as we wish.
Label: Crafted Sounds
Year: 2026
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A Mat in the Garden by Photokem
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