All Structures Align is two brothers from the band Nub, an entity I didn’t have much experience with bar a distro (Subjugation? Spread?) once sending me a copy of their ‘Blue Climber’ EP as a freebie. While I liked the record well enough I don’t really feel it qualifies me to go into any sort of historical or biographical detail, and it certainly didn’t prepare me for the sheer fucking excellence that is ‘Details And Drawings’. Deft, artful and emotionally affecting, the six songs here might owe a debt to a very specific subset of the Quarterstick / Touch & Go canon (Slint; Rodan; The Shipping News) while also brimming with distinct personality and a carefully-hewn worldview that is all their own. Each song is intricately plotted and subtly dynamic, spun from silvery thread that seems delicate at first glance but ultimately exhibits high tensile strength. Guitar parts twine, climb and occasionally blossom; ice floe basslines yaw and creak and sung-spoken vocals address quiet failures and misguided follies with a wry matter-of-factness that’s capable of cutting deep down to the bone. It’s astonishing stuff, honestly, and easily one of my favourite releases this year. Go listen to it.