Fearless: Post-Rock 1987-2001

In 1994, the music critic Simon Reynolds coined a new term: post-rock. It was an attempt to give a narrative to music that used the tools of rock but did something utterly different with it, broadening its scope by fusing elements of punk, dub, electronic music, minimalism, and more into something wholly new.

Post-rock is an anti-genre, impossible to fence in. Elevating texture over riff and ambiance over traditional rock hierarchies, its exponents used ideas of space and deconstruction to create music of enormous power. From Slint to Talk Talk, Bark Psychosis to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Tortoise to Fridge, Mogwai to Sigur Ros, the pioneers of post-rock are unified by an open-minded ambition that has proven hugely influential on everything from mainstream rock records to Hollywood soundtracks and beyond.

'The doors were blown open for me on everything, ' says Kieran Hebden (Fridge/Four Tet). 'I didn't think in terms of genre almost ever again.'

Drawing on dozens of new interviews and packed full of stories never before told, FEARLESS explores how the strands of post-rock entwined, frayed, and created one of the most diverse bodies of music ever to huddle under one name.


About the Author

Jeanette Leech is a writer, researcher, DJ and music historian. She writes regularly for Shindig! magazine, and as part of the B-Music collective she has DJed throughout the UK, including at the female acid folk events known as 'Bearded Ladies' and the Green Man Festival. She writes extensively in the health and social care fields. Seasons They Change is her first book about music.