Menu
· Trevor Miller
Is the best psychedelic rock band in Europe French?
If you value sprawling jams, cosmic sci-fi vibes, and kinetic live energy, it just might be. SLIFT’s story is equal parts cassette culture, space mythology, and analog voltage.
SLIFT is a Toulouse-based trio - brothers Jean and Rémi Fossat (guitar/vocals and bass/vocals) plus drummer Canek Flores - whose journey from school bands to international festivals is as cinematic as their music. Born from a classical music program but transformed by a life-changing Moon Duo concert, the group traded youth projects for a total commitment: every gig, every venue, all-in.
SLIFT’s catalog spins together heavy psych, space rock, stoner metal, and prog provocation. Critics point to the band’s ability to harness doom’s menace, krautrock’s pulse, and garage energy then re-spin it into hypnotic, post-everything jams.
Early influences ranged from punk (Fugazi, Melvins) to Electric Church-era Hendrix, with later nods to ’70s kraut, Miles Davis, and Hawkwind. And the sci-fi visuals? Straight from their literary obsessions: the band’s name is a deep cut from French novelist Alain Damasio.
Space Is the Key (EP, 2017): Raw, fuzzy, and bursting with lo-fi energy - imagine sci-fi 7”s in a cluttered basement, “The Sword” howling through the fuzz.
La Planète Inexplorée (2018): Their first full-length: 9 tracks of manic drumming and transistor blown riffing, atmospheric and relentless. “Fearless Eye” and “Silent Giant” lead the charge.
UMMON (2020): The breakthrough. A 72-minute, double-LP odyssey riffing on Homer’s Odyssey and space-myth. The jams sprawl, the riffs crush, and the concepts sing. Critics called it “ravaging” and a boundary-breaker.
ILION (2024): The cosmic saga’s next chapter - this time, imagine the Iliad set to fuzz. Released on Sub Pop, the album leans cinematic with epic, heavy passages. Early reviews call it a “colossal” follow-up.
SLIFT is a must-catch live act. Their performances - first in Toulouse caves, then viral on KEXP, now headlining festivals globally - are explosive, colored by psych projections and space-age improvisation. The KEXP set pulled in 1.5 million+ viewers, transforming word-of-mouth into cult status.
Whether crowding into DIY venues or teaming with synth-wizard Etienne Jaumet at Roadburn Festival, the band decimates genre lines while keeping audiences rapt. Critics and fans across Europe and North America hail SLIFT not just for fearless musicianship but for devotion to art over commerce.
Their narrative ambition, collector-grade album art, and deep-dig vinyl releases have made them a credible force uniting psych, prog, and metalheads, without ever losing the sweaty, lived-in edge that started it all.
Why spin SLIFT? For collectors: raw early pressings, concept albums daring enough to demand full-side listens, and live sets that have become instant analog lore. Culture first, commerce last.
Want to watch a boundary-smashing French psych band at their cosmic peak? Start with SLIFT’s Ummon or see their 2020 KEXP set on YouTube.