25 September 2025
Photo credit: Celeste Burdon
Band: PÔT-POT
Who: Irish/Portuguese quintet who infuse the propulsive grooves of krautrock
with a phosphorescent psych-rock radiance, all underscored by harmonium drones, hypnotic male-female vocal harmonies, and deep layers of rough-hewn texture.
Album: WARSAW 480 KM
Their debut.
Press info: “Evolved primarily from demos by multi-instrumentalist and lead vocalist Mark Waldron-Hyden during a period of grief and personal upheaval, the album came to life through a series of live, full-band studio sessions that document an exceptional array of talents, unified in an embrace of raw catharsis with a sweetly sinister edge. A defining element of ‘Warsaw 480km’ is its impressive range of influences and atmospheric topographies.
Waldron-Hyden about the record: “I wrote the first batch of songs while not really living in one place, so I think they have a kind of transient feel to them – developing them with the band helped me process an era in which I was emotionally freewheeling, so they remind me equally of the beautiful experience we shared as a creative unit and the difficult times that inspired them.”
“Ollie [Oliver Smith] and Sara [Sara Leslie] are experts at getting the most out of one pedal, a shitty amp, and a guitar they borrowed, a result of innate talent and years of experience; they use some modulation for dronier passages, but it’s their playing styles and understanding of ‘the vibe’ that are the secret ingredients.” This kind of intuitive connection and collaboration is incredibly rare, and with these ten pieces, pôt-pot accomplish something truly rapturous as they alchemize deep pain into a luminous reverie.”
TUTV: PÔT-POT are definitely psych rock fanatics. They explored the past, took notes and shaped a debut record that interprets their vision on the timeless genre. No, it’s certainly not a copy/paste job.
You will hear magnetizing echoes from legendary luminaries such as The Velvet Underground, Can and Love and modern era bands such as Black Angels, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols.
Warsaw 480km is stuffed with far-out Krautrock-like jams, hypnotizing riffs, kinetic rhythms, multi-layered jangly guitar layers, hallucinatory wanderings and psyched-out grooves. It’s an overall extravagant piece of trance-inducing work. Not many debut
albums have that mind-bending impact. Top-tier accomplishment.
KEY TRACKS: 22° Halo / WRSW / I AM! / The Lights Are On
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