Label Description:

“a band committed to disruption and abrasion. The jagged guitars, the fragmented structures, and the oscillating vocals all underline the same point: this is music designed to unsettle, and it succeeds.”
– Patrick Malone, Joyzine
joyzine.org/2025/09/06/single-review-vexations-stone-vultures/

Named after composer Satie’s infamous composition, that was banned because it was deemed too unsettling to perform live, Vexations create frenetic and off-kilter post-psych, with dissonant layered guitars, unorthodox song structures, and vocals that oscillate between spoken word and emphatic screams, to give a punchy yet unearthly sonic experience.

Formed in Edinburgh in 2023, Vexations brings together the diverse contributions of Calum (guitar) whose angular and disjointed riffs steer the band, David (guitar) whose distorted cacophonies of noise provide the sonic texture, Bradley (drums) whose warp-speed frenetic percussion drives the energy, and Rayhana (bass/vocals) whose ethereal yet punchy spoken-work and then screaming vocals punctuate the tracks and arrest attention with her abstract and otherworldly lyrics. The result is a high energy, emphatic, off-kilter and distorted wall of sound experience that contorts the sense and captures that feeling we all have that something just isn’t quite right.

Since forming, Vexations have become a relentless and immersive live project, playing numerous headline and support shows across Edinburgh and Glasgow’s scuzziest venues, honing their distorted and hook-laden sound, showcased here on their debut record, A Dream Unearthly.

STONE VULTURES
lyrics by Rayhana Hashmi

Down the river from the mud brick temples,
Past the houses of the morning star,
Along nerves stripped bare by razor wire,
See them come from near and far.
I have seen the triremes burning,
Out on the Arabian Sea,
But I have lived a hidden life,
I touch no one, no one touches me.

The world goes dim and black,
The old ones turn away,
Beneath the open throat of the world,
The ash clouds smother the day.

Have you seen them piled up high?
Have you seen the water bleed?
Carrion in crimson weather,
Bodies turned to stone in the street.

Morning bells in the western harbour,
Gilded petals on the mountain throne,
I watched stars fall on the city of the enemy,
But my skin is not my own.
We write slogans into dust,
We never tell the truth at all,
Lanterns in the broad daylight,
No one left to hear us call.
credits
released October 17, 2025

Recording and mixing: Calum Piercy
Mastering: Pete Maher
Vox/bass: Rayhana Hashmi
Guitar: Calum Piercy
Guitar: David Stockwell
Drums: Bradley Hillier-Smith

Artwork: EPHEMERALD