Thistle Sifter is the cinematic post-rock project of English musician Pete Barnes (Utrecht, NL).
Catapulted into disarray following a serious cycling accident in November 2020, Thistle Sifter became a platform for Barnes to express his personal struggles and emotions, transporting listeners into an ethereal world of serene post-rock, spacey synth ambience, evolving soundscapes & lo-fi folk.
Forever The Optimist is Barnes’ latest and most ambitious work to date, offering a more eclectic and symphonic sound to his ever-expanding body of work. Where previous albums A Spectral Moon (2022) and Circles (2024) strongly focused on personal struggles with health, acceptance and letting go of the past. Forever The Optimist deals with existential issues caused by man's neglect of our natural environment and fellow humans in the pursuit of neverending growth.
Heavily inspired by writers Jay Griffiths, George Monbiot, Omar El Akkad and Siddharth Kara, the eight compositions touch on themes such as land use, animal rights, cobalt mining in the Congo, climate breakdown, neo-liberalism and the media’s complicity in genocide. Each track on the album is accompanied by thematic visuals.
Thistle Sifter has been captivating audiences with its immersive audiovisual live experience throughout Europe in recent years, including AFAS Live in Amsterdam (with Sigur Rós), Le Guess Who? Festival (Utrecht) & Roadburn Festival (Tilburg). The band has shared a stage with Oh Hiroshima (Sweden), Midas Fall (UK), Törzs (Hungary) & Mother of Millions (Greece). The live line-up features Pete Barnes (guitar & synths), Nils Breunese (guitar), Alex Rushmer (bass & synths), Koen Klarenbeek (drums).
'Arguably one of the most engaging and under-appreciated creative forces around today' - Broken8Records (AUS)
'Dreamy, floaty compositions that are a counterweight to darkness' - Luminous Dash (BE)
'Serene post-rock guitar work and spacey synth ambience' - Obscure Sound (US)
'A sonic immersion that transcends the expectations of conventional post-rock' - Radio Armazem (BR)
'A journey through emotional highs and lows, captured in artfully woven sound carpets that captivate the listener' - AM:PLIFIED (DE)
Photo by Lisanne Lentink