Now, admittedly, piano-led albums are something of a rarity on these pages.  But rest assured, this is an album that thoroughly demands its place – hauntingly evocative, darkly captivating.

Nonexistent Night hail from San Diego and comprise Carrie Feller (of darkwave synth punks Hexa) on piano and vocals, together with Sal Gallego (formerly Some Girls) and John Reider of noise punks Secret Fun Club on drums and bass respectively.  Feller’s mournfully beautiful piano forms the heart of their sound, segueing from the sombrely skeletal to the soaringly melancholic, a seamless transition that Feller skilfully matches with her strident yet nuanced vocals.  The rhythm section provides a powerfully measured underpinning, knowing exactly when less is more and, equally, when to unleash their full velocity.  Guitars are used sparingly, slabs of metallic-tinged riffage being deployed to notably crushing effect on Tessalations, while strings imbue Unofficial Soundtrack To The Unconscious and Prelude In Terror with a more elegiac air.

Perhaps, the highlight though is the very quality of the songwriting itself.  In the wrong hands, five songs spanning just shy of forty minutes could lead to blind alleys and lost momentum.  But there is not even a hint of self-indulgence on display, the album being defined by its well-paced dynamics and song structures.  Thematically, the band draw on James Baldwin’s 1957 short story, Sonny’s Blues, and the art of Noelle Mason, whose work using x-ray photography techniques adorns the cover art and liner notes, to examine notions of how music and art can be used to challenge social control and hegemonic perspectives.