The Zaxons - Keswick Cutouts

The Zaxons

Keswick Cutouts
self-released; 2026

By Jamie Funk

The first thing that hit me about “Keswick Cutouts” wasn’t a hook or a lyric. It was the texture. The Zaxons come across like a band that feels visceral, and that choice shapes everything that follows.

Julian Growcott, Csaba Laszlo, and Ben Wilson lock into a post-punk groove almost immediately. Within seconds, I hear that lineage, but it’s filtered through something a little off-center, a slightly quirky quality that reminds me of Ariel Pink without leaning too hard on it. The bass does a lot of the heavy lifting here, anchoring the rhythm while the guitar stays economical and the drums keep things tight. When the synth shows up, it doesn’t take over, it just adds a bit of color to the edges.

That said, the lo-fi approach is pushed pretty far. I love lo-fi in general, but the vocals are buried to the point where I struggled to make out many of the words. It still works within the context of the song and the flow and cadence. It feels intentional, like part of the aesthetic rather than a flaw, even if it creates some distance.

I loved the longer instrumental sections as well. There are stretches where the band leans into those moments, and they’re some of the strongest parts of the track. I also liked how the song shifts time in places. Those transitions could have felt clunky, but they move through them naturally, which says a lot about how in sync the band is. It's so nice to hear real humans doing this.

More than anything, I kept coming back to how raw and organic it all sounds. There’s a looseness to the recording that feels refreshing right now, especially when so much music ends up smoothed out and overly processed with AI filters. This doesn’t try to clean itself up. It just exists in its own space, rough edges and all. I'm looking forward to more from the young band.

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