Asbest / Switzerland

Basel / Switzerland
Label: A Tree In A Field Records
Latest Release: "Cyanide" released May 19th 2023

In 2018, noise rock band Asbest appeared out of nowhere with their debut album „Driven“, which received highly positive reviews internationally (Visions: 9/12, „A combination of Metz’s or Pissed Jeans’s rawness with openness for experiments like A Place To Bury Strangers, underscored by shoegaze elements”). The blog bprodukt wrote: „Never before have cold post-punk, passionate noise rock and hypnotic shoegaze been combined so naturally.”

Connected to the LGBTQIA+ movement (people discriminated against by the patriarchy due to their sexual orientation or gender identity), Asbest use their follow-up album “Cyanide” to condemn the compulsions of modern society: pressure to succeed, self-optimisation, self-exploitation. They explore the question: Is it possible to lead a truly happy existence within a diseased reality without denying oneself or the circumstances? To quote Adorno: Is there a right life in the wrong one?

Asbest are made up of Robyn Trachsel (vocals, guitar), Judith Breitinger (vocals, bass) and Jonas Häne (drums) and are published by A Tree in a Field Records. Their genre is post-punk, shoegaze-inspired noise rock.