Unknown Waveforms

by KAU

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Includes unlimited streaming of Unknown Waveforms via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

€8 EUR or more

1.	opening_words 02:03	buy track
2.	morph_303 02:16	buy track
3.	stratford 02:52	buy track
4.	cr_eye 03:17	buy track
5.	unknown_waveforms 04:06	buy track
6.	isle_of_man 02:51	buy track
7.	pray 01:58	buy track
8.	4U 02:22	buy track
9.	glow 02:49	buy track
10.	no_comply 01:09	buy track
11.	dive 01:00	buy track
12.	dive_deep 03:07	buy track
13.	2hi2lo 02:37	buy track
14.	ping_pong 01:07	buy track
15.	shuvit 00:42	buy track
16.	heads_up 02:17	buy track
17.	tränenmeer (cr_eye reprise) 01:35	buy track

about

Unknown Waveforms is the forthcoming album from Belgian trio KAU, set for release on October 10, 2025. Marking an evolution since their 2023 release The Cycle Repeats, this new record captures a more personal, immediate, and unfiltered version of the band’s sound. In an increasingly digital world, KAU takes a different route, with an album rooted in human connection, live energy, and creative spontaneity. Here, the trio reflect their take on instrumental music, drawing heavily from jazz, hip hop, and electronic influences.

At the heart of Unknown Waveforms lies the starting point of three musicians in a room, writing and composing music on the spot. For KAU, this idea mirrors their working method: long jam sessions, free-flowing experimentation, and shared moments of inspiration. Songs often take shape slowly, unfolding over hours or days, but always built collaboratively as a trio.

The album’s title reflects the mystery behind how music comes together, but is also both literal and symbolic. Unknown waveforms are the sounds that arise when machines and people interact in unpredictable ways. Whether you’re an experienced musician or just starting out, the creative process often feels elusive and hard to fully understand. But there are also certain moments: creative sparks that can’t be planned or programmed. It ends up being more than notes, gear, or structure, it’s about the process, the tension and energy that builds when people connect and create in the same room.

The title track, Unknown Waveforms, captures that exact process. It opens with a quote from synth pioneer Wendy Carlos: “I’m just trying to show you how we get some of these sounds”, inviting listeners directly into the creative space. The track focuses less on a polished outcome and more on the moment before a song is “finished”: it’s a portrait of experimentation, feeling, and raw expression.

This commitment to honesty permeates the entire album. KAU kept overdubs to a minimum, avoided excessive editing, and prioritized spontaneous choices over calculated ones. In a time when the future of live, improvised music feels uncertain, they double down on the physical, the real, and the immediate. The album resists the pristine polish of modern production, favoring the warmth and imperfection of analog synthesis. The band embraces the character of their instruments, particularly vintage gear, where subtle flaws add beauty, depth, and personality.

One standout track, cr_eye, is driven by the Moog Subphatty—a key instrument in the band’s toolkit for its analog warmth and powerful sub-bass. The track centers around the conversation between bass and drums, allowing the keyboards to recede and create space. It draws emotional threads from earlier KAU tracks like Kampala and Kautokeino, bridging past and present with a shared atmosphere and rhythmic interplay.

Another highlight, Stratford, finds inspiration in London’s transport system and the UK jazz scene that has long influenced KAU. A field recording snippet of the London Underground kicks off the track, connecting it to the rhythm of everyday commutes. Built around a hypnotic sequencer line from the Roland JX-3P, the track evokes the motion of a metro journey. Artists like Nubya Garcia, Yussef Dayes, and Alfa Mist, giants of the scene that the band has admired for years, resonate subtly throughout.

Above all, Unknown Waveforms is a statement of intent from KAU: a celebration of imperfection, creative honesty and an insight in the process.

credits

released October 10, 2025

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about

KAU Brussels, Belgium

KAU (pronounced \kaʊ̯\ ) is an instrumental band based in Brussels. Representing various European backgrounds, their coming- together is in the urban and free spirit of the city they grew up in. They combine synthetic music, heady melodies, electronic grooves and witty beatmaking to make heads bob ... more

Recommendations

shows

Oct 18

The Peer Hat

Manchester, UK
Oct 21

91 Living Room

London, UK
Nov 13

TRIX

Antwerp, Belgium
Dec 4

Club AFF

Hasselt, Belgium

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