Style: Art rock, prog rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Bent Knee, Radiohead, Squid, King Crimson, Queens of the Stone Age
Country: UK
Release date: 26 June 2026

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As I write this review, the UK is going through a record-breaking heatwave, the first since that record-breaking heatwave we had last month. And I want to set something straight for the rest of the world: 39°C heat might be something you’re used to, but we’re not: our roads melt, our railways buckle, and we don’t have any air-conditioning in our houses that were built to retain heat in a bygone age of cold climate, so whatever the temperature is outside is what it is inside too. Needless to say, I am a sweaty, suffering mess not unlike the figure on the album cover of today’s review. Oh yeah, I know why you clicked on this review! You were thinking, ‘what the fuck is that?’ Well, it’s me. That’s what I look like right now in the extreme heat.

Let’s try and cool off with a review shall we? Today it’s Bristolian act Sans Froid, who will also be wilting in this climate-change-induced hell—go get yourselves an ice cream before reading on. With some similarities to cult Berklee art rockers Bent Knee and drawing from the UK indie rock scene too, Sans Froid’s sophomore outing Back Into the Womb sees the four-piece exploring a range of moods: Radiohead-ish melancholy, upbeat indie-prog grooves, and moments of skronky discordance that verge on 80s King Crimson’s jagged rhythmic interplay. Frontwoman Aisling Trafford is a phenomenon, able to turn her voice to delicate falsetto, raucous rasps, and defiant shouts. Beneath her glides a deftly tight rhythm section with Toby Green’s meticulous timekeeping working in concert with Charles Barnes and Benjamin Harris’ lurking grooves and wonky riffing. 

Back into the Womb offers a wealth of identities. Early cut “Pros & Constants” provides a shoegazy sense of languor, its aloof affect speaking to a slacker rock style. Such a chord-based heater belies Sans Froid’s wider complexity: opener “Go On” culminates in a jazzy section that borders on the neo-soul of Hiatus Kaiyote. Meanwhile, “Menorabilia” feels more in the vein of bands like Squid with its freaky whammy effect motif and moments of jam chaos that perforate an otherwise calm exterior. Trafford’s rasping chant of ‘I am the other one’ to clashing QOTSA-esque chords feels like yet another instrumental hat the band don with effortless chic. On “Of the Mother” Trafford and co belt out refrains and lay down grooves that would sit happily in the Bent Knee camp. But all this comparison does an injustice to Sans Froid, who completely own these influences, interweaving them seamlessly into a sonic tapestry of their own. 

I find myself most charmed, however, by some of Back Into the Womb’s softer moments: “Sorbet” centres loungey piano chords while Trafford wrings all the emotion out of a single phrase: ‘all out of hope, so the earth swallowed us whole’ varying her cadence each time. Haunting closer “Thorns” returns to this stripped back vibe, Trafford and her piano at the forefront with another lonely refrain—’you’re the only one that feels like home/a thorn amongst the roses I’ve become’— while mining eerie intervals that really throw me back to Nine Inch Nails’ “Lights in the Sky” in the best possible way. 

All this variety belies the sleekness of Back Into the Womb: it’s thirty-five minutes long and only one song exceeds four minutes (and even then only by two seconds). Sans Froid are incredibly efficient, packing more into a three minute track than many a prog group packs into a ten minute epic. Frequently songs transition rather smoothly into one another: take the descending run from the title track into the first piano chord of “Sorbet” or the way “Of the Mother” spends itself to segue into the relative languor of “Bags Packed”, for example. By no means a rule, these segues bestow a sense of connection upon Back Into the Womb, bridging the gap between individual tracks.  

And capacious production only abets the quartet, giving crystal clarity to every member, putting Trafford’s centrepiece performance exactly where it should be, sharpening the guitars’ bite, and letting Green’s understated yet vital drum performance guide the whole thing. Back into the Womb is a well-oiled machine. And all of this is without me getting into some of the themes, as the band tackle feminist disunity (“Of the Mother”), the pimping of artists by social media and AI (“The Exploiter of Art”), and the everyday torment of anxiety (“Back Into the Womb”). 

And so, while I may have shrivelled up in the extreme heat and my eyelids are screwed shut against the onslaught of stinging sweat, there’s a big grin on my face because I’ve got some great tunes to guide me through. Back Into the Womb is a deceptively big grab-bag of punchy, intricate and eminently catchy art rock bangers, a cooling compress in a record-breaking heatwave. 

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Recommended tracks: Pros & Constants, Sorbet, Still Thinking, Back Into the Womb, Thorns
You may also like: Plantoid, Lovemenot, A Formal Horse
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Church Road Records

Sans Froid is:
– Aisling Trafford (vocals, keys)
– Toby Green (drums)
– Charles Barnes (guitar)
– Benjamin Harris (bass)