kwes. – ‘Kinds’ Review

What does kwes. sound like?

Immersive sound design and ethereal ambient textures.

The review of ‘Kinds’ by kwes.

London artist kwes. has released ‘Kinds’, his first solo work in eight years, and with it comes a gorgeous visualisation from digital artist Ryan Vautier. It visualises the entire album and was filmed during its premiere at the Barbican (one of my favourite music and arts venues) as part of the Warp Happening event.

‘Kinds’ features a numb, dreamy, Brian Eno-esque hollow warmth across its nine tracks. Created after a period of burnout, kwes. was inspired by his daughter, who accidently spilled water all over one of her drawings. She allowed it anger her for a moment, before kicking off another drawing. It was the boost kwes. needed to kickstart work on ‘Kinds’.

Each track is named after a mixture of colours based on three principles. kwes. explains the three principles as:

The first being in relation to kinds of thoughts and feelings I had felt while making them, personal reminders / colour-field coded memories in a way…secondly, so that listeners can experience the music how they want to, without much narrative, and thirdly, I simply just love colour.“

I love how the music sits in a no man’s land. Sometimes it sounds like a synth. Elsewhere, it sounds like a guitar transitioning into a synth. In other places, it’s like the echoes of distant thoughts are bouncing off walls. I’m also delighted my first listen to ‘Kinds’ was with the music video on a big TV. The visuals remind me of the Barbican, but it’s been overtaken and reclaimed by nature. The Barbican has always been very brutalist in its angular, concrete utopian design, and the after-humans-have-left visualisation is superb. The video is a recreation of the art installation used during the original listening experience staged within the Barbican Conservatory.

Tracks like ‘Black (Grey)’ bubble and perculate with bleeps and bloops of optimism and rejuvenation. ‘Yellow Green’ are epic sweeps of vast panoramic electronics, while ‘Green White’ is a dense wall of numb hues that soothe. I could listen to the cascades of ‘Blue White Violet’ for an hour and not notice. It has an irredesence to it that I find irresistible. I think it’s my favourite ambient synth piece I’ve heard in months.

So sit back and enjoy half an hour of ambient balms and ethereal electronics. kwes. delivers a fantastic album, and I’m sure it’ll feature in my top ambient and electronic albums of 2026.

Recommended track: Blue White Violet

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