Les Dunes Bring Us Soundscapes From Etne to Infinity

Les Dunes - From Etne to the Edge of Space 

Released: 05 September 2025 

Vinyl Release: Kapitän Platte 

I have previously written about the music of Les Dunes. It was for their 2023 self-titled release and it's an album that still finds time in my life for a spin. It has a soothing and psychedelic essence to it that manages to hit the reset button and clear the headspace with its lush walls of melodic and acoustic tones. So, with that in mind, new music from the trio was always going to be welcomed with open arms. 

From Etne to the Edge of Space is the title of the new album and in simple terms it’s a slow-burn odyssey through the cosmos, high on space and yet still remaining intimate, nostalgic and fresh. Hailing from Haugesund, Norway, the trio of Per Andreas Haftorsen on guitar, Per Steinar Lie on bass and Morten Jackman on drums create that rare kind of ambience that makes you feel like you’re driving under a star-studded sky, with the windows down and horizon melting away through the rear view mirror.  

Released via one of my favourite labels, Kapitän Platte, the album builds itself around seven sweeping tracks totalling around forty minutes. What makes this record shimmer and sparkle is the guitar work, bathed in tremolo, and glowing with a wavering, hypnotic pulse that seems to cast its spell effortlessly, a quality that very few bands can master. Each chord or arpeggio is given room to inhale and exhale, with its pulsations and sweeps carefully sculpted so the tones feel less like an effect and more like a gentle tide pulling at the edges of consciousness.  

From the opening track, Pax to the closer and title track From Etne to the Edge of Space, the tremolo guitar acts like a moonlight guide, laying down waves of shimmering chords and bending light into darkness. It creates movement where the rhythm section stays grounded, like that subtle flicker of light against vast open skies. It’s not aggressive or in your face and there’s no over-elaborate shredding. it’s more about resonance and sustain, that slow movement between melody and silence, where the echo trails off and you’re left suspended and weightless.

https://youtu.be/gIKaKK_f36Y?si=UTLrJgD4XwkEmLa9

There’s an unhurried patience throughout the record actually. Silence is treated as an instrument, allowing the tremolo’s ebb and flow to carve out space and scope between the notes. Rather than aiming for climaxes, the music leans into atmosphere, letting textures accumulate until they feel as boundless as the album’s title suggests. All through this voyage the bass guitar anchors everything and the drums pulse like a constant heartbeat. Together with the guitars, they conjure up an immense and emotional space where memories float and time seems to stretch. 

Ultimately, From Etna to the Edge of Space is less about the arrival but more about the journey. It evokes both the grounded rumble of earth and the infinite wonder of the cosmos, all carried by the tremolo guitar’s luminous pulse. Les Dunes have crafted a sound that feels eternal, fragile, and endlessly alive, and you know something, I never tire of it!

From Etne To The Edge Of Space | Les Dunes | Kapitaen Platte