8. Jadu Heart – POST HEAVEN

This is easily Jadu Heart’s best record yet. As with Kerala Dust’s An Echo of Love, it took me a while to dial in to POST HEAVEN – it is a big shift from the shoegazy indie of Derealised (#19 in 2023). This is a beat-driven mix of glitchy synth electronica, atmospheric dreamscapes and lo-fi guitar. And it asks a lot of you: the duo have never been anywhere near this experimental before. Since its release in April, though, I kept on coming back to it and kept unlocking more from it musically each time. Then there’s the added spice of the fact that the pair – previously a couple and now separated – made the decision to continue to work together post split and so effectively created their angsty breakup album... together. Lyrically, therefore, POST HEAVEN is full of melancholy and pain, and it all feels raw and real (albeit still falling some way short of Cover the Mirrors levels of heartbreak, of course). Utilising the implosion of their personal relationship to fuel their (shared) art must have taken some act of will, but it has led to a fantastic record. Combine that jagged emotional core with the range and quality of the music on show here, and it adds up to Jadu Heart taking a confident and significant step forward.