Electric Sun Defence (Estuary)

5 hours ago
12 min read

Released: 2026

Genre: Post-metal

Sounds Like: The Ocean, Forming the Void, KLPS

Homeland: Glasgow, UK

What makes Estuary elite and sit atop OHMs Peak?

Estuary is 10 tracks of beautifully heavy Post-metal. The contrast and raw emotion these guys put forward keeps this album in heavy rotation.
The vocals are perfect, delivering both angst and clear tones to convey a range of emotions.
The production is spot on. This album features a rich sound without being overly produced, maintaining a raw and progressive quality at the same time.

Track Listing:

Shimmer :37
Estuary 7:47
Fountain of Blood 4:55
His Will 7:06
The Master's Garden 5:56
Spiderweb 3:28
Choke Leper 7:46
Dysmorph 2:15
Phantom Limb Amputee 4:58
In Bestia 5:23

Dive deeper into Estuary with our Q&A with Joe and Pete from Electric Sun Defence.

OHMs Peak: Rising from your previous band project The Massacre Cave into this new chapter as a duo, can you give us some insight behind the name and its meaning Electric Sun Defence. Also, how did your history together shape the vision for ‘Estuary’, and what creative freedoms did this new project open up for you?

Joe: Electric Sun Defence started with songs that were originally intended for a new The Massacre Cave record. One of the first songs I wrote for that project was called 'The Master's Garden'. I was quite nervous about presenting it as it was quite different and very 'me'. To my surprise Pete was blown away by that song which really changed things in terms of what I thought was possible - but it became obvious it wouldn't fit within the framework of The Massacre Cave. We were both excited by what we had done up to that point so I kept pushing those ideas further and eventually wrote a whole new batch of material specifically with this project in mind. So songs like His Will, Choke Leper, Phantom Limb Amputee and Estuary were all written in this period.

I know the kind of approach Pete has to the drums, and he's always been honest about what he feels is working or not when it comes to my writing. The process was very collaborative in that sense. I would write the music, send over demos, and we'd develop the arrangements together, jamming them out to make sure everything felt right in the room.

The biggest creative freedom was the lack of boundaries. There were no expectations about what the project should sound like, which made it incredibly liberating. It gave us space to explore ideas without feeling tied to any particular style or identity.

As for the name, we wanted something that felt as far removed from a traditional metal band name as possible. After years of playing in a band called The Massacre Cave, we were keen to go in the opposite direction. Pete was particularly interested in it having a slightly comedic edge - I don't want to give too much away but if you're a Tim Heidecker fan, you know... or maybe it means something else entirely…

Pete: I think I was ready to to go in a different direction and try something new. When Joe wrote the bare-bones demo for what eventually became Masters Garden and brought it to me, I loved it straight away because it felt like we were exploring new territory. It was exciting to step into something different and see where it could take us.

Joe and I have been playing music together and making music together for over 20 years now. Over that time your tastes change, your influences change, and what excites you creatively changes as well. For me, I didn't just want to make another album that sounded like the previous one. I was always open to doing something different and embracing a new challenge. I think it's more exciting when you mix things up and push yourself into unfamiliar territory.

When we got to the point where it became clear that this was going to be something entirely new, I was also keen that the name didn't immediately signpost us as a heavy band. Joe and I spend a lot of time quoting lines from The Simpsons, Peep Show and Alan Partridge, so I liked the idea of finding something that had a little bit of that spirit in it. A lot of the obvious comedy references have already been mined for band names, though, so when Joe came up with Electric Sun Defence it felt like a good fit.

OHMs Peak: ‘Estuary’ carries this sense of motion, erosion, and inevitability….almost like the music is shaped by real physical landscapes. When you were writing the album, what environments, imagery, or natural spaces influenced the direction of the songs, and how did those surroundings shape your writing process?

Joe: I am obsessed with religious themes and iconography, not because I'm religious or even spiritual, but because I've found that religious phrases and vocabulary can be a useful vessel for carrying reverence and grandeur into lyrical themes. Most of the music I write is funnelled through that same sense of awe that I might feel in a cathedral or a place of intense natural beauty - the feeling that in a moment, you're just as capable of bursting into tears as you are of screaming at the sky. That sounds pompous... because it is, haha!

I'm from a remote Hebridean island called Eigg (pronounced “Egg”), so water and dramatic landscapes have always been part of my experience. My identity and sense of self are so tied up with that place that I think it's the backdrop for a lot of what I write. But I think a lot of Scottish people would agree that winter here carries a certain melancholy that's in all of us.

Pete: Yeah, I think where I live has probably had more of an influence on the record than I realised at the time. I live in a pretty remote area just outside Lanark, on a farm with no neighbours, and I'm only a stone's throw from the River Clyde. The front of the house has this wonderful view looking out across the river, local hills and countryside.

It's interesting looking back now, because the project really started to take shape during the COVID pandemic. During that period, when everything was shut down and we couldn't play live, Joe was writing and we were sending ideas back and forward to each other. I spent a lot of time walking up and down the farm road as it was the only place to go, looking out over the river and the landscape around me.

The environment I found myself in during that period must have had an impact. There was a beauty to the surroundings but there was also a sadness that came with the isolation. Almost every day felt inevitably the same, with the same walks, the same views and the same routines. Those surroundings were incredibly peaceful, but they also served as a constant reminder of how disconnected everything had become. Looking back, I think that mix of beauty, melancholy and inevitability seeped into the atmosphere of the record in ways I didn't appreciate at the time.

OHMs Peak: The album artwork photographed and designed by Somhairle Macdonald, feels stark, textural, and deeply tied to the record’s mood. What was the visual concept behind the cover, and how did you collaborate to ensure the imagery reflected the album’s emotional landscape?

Joe: I would like to say publicly that Somhairle (pronounced “Sor-lee”) is a creative one-off. He did photos for The Massacre Cave album Godlust and I found him so creative and understanding of what we were after that it was a no-brainer to use him again. He’s also a Highlander living in Glasgow, so we have a natural affinity for one another.

Pete and I both agreed that we wanted a photographic cover for this album. I told Somhairle the kind of thing we were after - I think I sent him the unmixed album and the lyrics for the song Estuary so he knew what he was dealing with emotionally. I was originally thinking of a lone figure at the water’s edge, but he sent over a few images and that one immediately caught my eye - it just looked really iconic to me.

He told me he’d left the film in a damp house, which is what gives it those subtle water damage streaks. I wanted the three solar flares on there so he added them, and there you have it!

Pete: Yeah, again, because this was now a completely new project from our previous band, I was keen that if the music was different and the name was different, then the visual identity should be different as well.

Given the themes and the sound of the album, which can be quite bleak, melancholic and, it felt right that the artwork should mirror that. I was quite keen for everything to be stripped back, with no colour and a palette of blacks, whites and greys. I wanted something stark and understated.

When Somhairle sent the images through, Joe and I both agreed pretty quickly on the one we ended up using. What I like about it is its simplicity and the fact that it's not obvious what you're looking at. I think that gives it a bit of mystery and intrigue.

OHMs Peak: One thing that really stands out on ‘Estuary’ is just how full and immersive the sound is—it’s hard to believe it’s coming from only two musicians. How do you achieve that level of depth and weight? Is it rooted more in studio technique, layering, or something else in your creative approach?

Joe: I think the answer is probably all three. I always play down any talent I may or may not have and credit it all to having very few other interests. Once I'm thinking about a song I can't stop thinking about it until I'm completely happy with it. I think a lot of songwriters are the same. Though when I see that written down it does read like a description of some sort of mental illness ha!

I certainly felt untethered to the idea of it being a strict “band” set up. Absolutely anything can be added in my opinion. Most of the time I'm thinking about what the vocal could do while I'm writing the music, so it's a constantly evolving thing. The music could be great, but if a vocal part is the thing that gives me “that” feeling then the music can get changed to serve that - or vice versa.

I think a lot of musicians, particularly guitar players, can fall into the trap of obsessing over their individual parts or being overly precious with them. With this, I always tried to listen to the thing as a whole. So even now when I listen back I only really hear a mood rather than 'parts'.

Pete: Even though the album was created by just Joe and me, we always knew it wasn't going to be something that could realistically be replicated on stage by only two musicians. Hence why Matt (Clark) and Atif (Azim) have recently joined us for performing live.

I think a lot of what made the record possible was the technology that's now available for recording at home and working on music remotely but collectively. Joe would usually start by writing the initial demos, often with a rough approximation of the drum parts already programmed in. That gave me a sense of where he was hearing things going rhythmically, and then I'd come in and reinterpret those ideas into something that felt more natural to my playing style and what I thought would best serve the song.

Because we don't live particularly close to each other—Joe's near Glasgow and I'm in Lanark—we spent a lot of time sending ideas back and forward. During lockdown I bought a Yamaha EAD10, which made it incredibly easy to record drum ideas quickly at home and send them to Joe. By the time we eventually got into a rehearsal room together, a lot of the songs already had a pretty solid framework in place.

When we rehearsed, Joe would bring the recorded bass and rhythm guitar parts into the room and run them through the PA and my headphones while he played live over the top. Even though there were only two of us physically in the room, it felt much more like rehearsing with a full band.

There were also plenty of additional layers and textures added as the songs developed. Things like the trumpet at the start of Estuary and some of the more atmospheric elements helped broaden the sound even further. But I think a huge amount of credit has to go to Graeme Young. We discovered his work through DVNE's Etemen Ænka, which absolutely blew me away from both a musical and a production standpoint. As soon as we found out Graeme had worked on that record, we knew he was someone we'd love to work with if we could.

The great thing was that Graeme immediately understood what we were trying to achieve. He knew how to make the music feel huge without losing the detail or atmosphere. When people talk about how full and immersive the album sounds, a lot of that comes down to the work he did in helping bring those ideas to life.

OHMs Peak: “Choke Leper” carries a vivid atmosphere and a striking title. It’s such a tremendous track. Can you provide us to more insight behind the making of the track and its meaning?

Joe: Thank you! This one took a long time to write. I think Pete could tell there was something there, but he kept telling me to change stuff in the intro section - I think I was probably trying to be clever and he just kept saying no until I got it right.

The intro is about an anxiety dream I used to get a lot where I completely lost it in public or with people I loved and they would look at me like, “what the fuck are you doing?” The feeling that you've been cast out as the leper of the group. It tied into the feeling I'd constructed in my head around the end of The Massacre Cave. My brother was part of that band and it meant a lot to both of us - the lyrics are about wanting to apologise to him for pushing things too hard in my direction within that band.

The feeling of things ending and me being the driving force behind that end made me feel like I'd choked things to death in a way. At the end of the song I'm recognising that this is all a form of self-flagellation on my part. It's like I'm longing to be the leper of the scenario to try and make everyone happy... or satisfy my own ego... who knows?

And if you don't give a fuck about lyrics, it's got a great riff at the end.

Pete: Ha! I didn't actually know that until this interview. Are any of the songs on the album about me? I'm starting to wonder now...

Seriously though, musically, this was one of the songs that sat in the "maybe" pile for quite a while. It's funny because it's probably the track that's surprised us most in terms of how positively it's been received by people listening to the album.

The reason it took so long is that the first third of the song just wasn't working. I remember Joe going back and forth with multiple ideas, and I kept pushing him to revisit it because they just didn’t fit the rest of the song. Eventually that opening section was basically rewritten from scratch. The middle and final sections, though, always felt strong to me, so I never wanted to abandon the song completely.

What I like about it now is that it almost feels like three songs stitched together into a single journey. The opening section is one of the lighter moments on the album, then it takes a much darker and heavier turn in the middle, before becoming almost uplifting again towards the end. There's a real sense of movement through it.

That final section is probably my favourite part. It's got that driving, galloping rhythm and the dual guitar melodies Joe wrote always reminded me a little bit of Thin Lizzy. There's something really triumphant about it.

So yeah, I'm delighted it's connected with people because it's probably the song we wrestled with the most. Looking back now, all that time spent reworking it was absolutely worth it.

OHMs Peak: If Electric Sun Defence were stranded on a desert island with only a solar‑powered record player and could collectively choose one album to bring, which album would you pick and why does it feel like the band’s shared lifeline?

Joe: Pete, I'm going to defer to you here as I've rambled on like a drugged horse for most of this. I would suggest that we'd probably both be happy with Pelagial by The Ocean. Pete has an amazingly wide ranging taste in music but he raved about this album years ago and I was fully onboard after a few listens. I think we both find this album inspiring to this day. Unless you've got a better one for us Pete?

Pete: Yeah, I think this is a great shout, Joe. Pelagial is just an absolute masterpiece of post-metal and progressive metal.

What I love about it is the concept behind the album. It's built around descending through the different depths of the ocean, and the music reflects that journey perfectly. It starts off with these beautiful, uplifting and relatively clean passages, alongside some incredible string arrangements. Then, as the album progresses, it gradually becomes darker, heavier and more oppressive, mirroring the diminishing light, increasing pressure and sense of claustrophobia that comes with travelling deeper and deeper beneath the surface.

It's also one of those rare albums that is a single piece of music rather than a collection of songs. It’s split up into 11 tracks, but it's not an album where you can dip in and listen to one song in isolation. It really has to be experienced from start to finish. The tracks flow seamlessly into one another, and every section feels important to the overall journey.

I suppose it's also quite a fitting choice given the aquatic themes that connect Pelagial with our own album, Estuary. If we're stranded on a desert island surrounded by water, then an album entirely centred around a journey through the ocean feels pretty appropriate.

Electric Sun Defence are:

Peter Colquhoun: Drums

Joe Cormack: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards

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