7/10

Across sixteen carefully composed songs, Barista’s '29 Summers Later' attempts something considerably bigger than a conventional alt-rock record. Han Eryılmaz looks outward at a world capable of producing profound suffering, then inward at memory, bereavement, love and the relationships that make remaining engaged with that world worthwhile.

It's certainly a substantial canvas, but the album’s strength lies in its humanity. His response to the suffering in Gaza and his unease at the way violence can become another piece of endlessly consumed media give the record some of its darkest weight. Yet it refuses to exist entirely inside anger, as romance, affection, humour and flashes of melodic optimism repeatedly interrupt the heavier reflections, creating an album concerned as much with what deserves protecting as with what has been lost.

Musically, that contrast suits Barista beautifully. Alt-rock foundations expand into broad, emotionally charged arrangements, with the calibre of the producer's collaborators giving the material considerable muscle. Simon Phillips brings unmistakable authority behind the drums, while Jesse Siebenberg and bassist Ernest Tibbs help create a sound that's expansive without becoming detached from the musicians performing it.

The use of different vocalists across the record further widens its perspective. Instead of presenting sixteen chapters through exactly the same voice, '29 Summers Later' begins to feel almost communal, with different characters carrying pieces of the same wider emotional landscape.

For all its concerns with grief and contemporary turmoil, this is ultimately an album that resists numbness. Ambitious, deeply felt and impressively expansive, '29 Summers Later' finds Barista turning an unsettled moment in both personal and collective life into a powerful argument for continuing to care.