DOIST!: Until the Light takes us

A most welcome back to DOIST! whose new EP has just emerged on their Soundcloud.

It features five tracks; Wolf Temple, The Wave, Until the Light takes us, Circles and Until the Light takes us (Commuter mix).

It follows the release of their Black Church EP in April last year.

The dark electronics from the Renes duo are fiercely contemporary, but remind me at times of the likes of Heldon, French electronic guerillas from an earlier generation.

Meanwhile, the title gives a nod to the Norwegian black metal scene.  Musically, that might initially seem far removed from the musical environment of DOIST! ,  but there's little doubt that fans of extreme metal would get what they're doing.

There's a similar disregard for convention and an urge to push things further than before. Mind you,  there's also not so much murder, church burning and dubious politics, which is probably a good thing.

Live: Doist at the Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes

One of the strengths of the Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes festival was the opportunity to catch acts
that would be outwith my usual listening comfort zone.

The festival's bill was an eclectic one,  in the most part steering away from obvious commercial acts and instead giving acts that are more interesting the opportunity to showcase their work in front of an open-minded audience.

So it was with Doist! performing at the Heineken Green Room on the final night of the festival.

The duo from Rennes were tipped as a marriage of electro and metal, but they were much more than this. It wasn't metal as such, probably not electro either, but something that fans of each genre would certainly recognise and respond to at an instinctive level.

Fans of extreme music of any stripe would be into what Doist! are doing.

They're not the first French act to put guitar and electro together and take things to a new level - older listeners will remember the likes of Heldon and the solo work of Richard Pinhas - and while in some ways what Doist! is doing is an extension of that electronic rock, they've come up with something exciting in its own right.

Their digital release Black Church EP was released in April this year, with four tracks and three remixes. It is available from their bandcamp site at a price of your choosing. http://doist.bandcamp.com/