Rapt

Folk/Slowcore/Ambient artist based in London UK.

Jacob Ware is Rapt, but what Rapt is isn’t so simple. The Brighton native describes it as less of a typical music project and more like a label, in which he just so happens to play the part of each artist. Ware first cut his teeth in the UK’s extreme metal scene as the founding bassist for Enslavement, but this belies the directions he would later take his music when striking out solo.

His self-titled 2018 debut was a series of serene, stretched ambient instrumentals, while subsequent releases None of This Will Matter and Drouth saw Ware explore swirling, reverb-saturated singer-songwriter fare and a techno twist on the ideas from Rapt, respectively. Brand consistency be damned, Ware’s an artist’s artist: helplessly compelled from one idea to the next.

Ware’s latest, Until the Light Takes Us, is yet another singular entry into his ever-growing and exceedingly diverse catalog. At first blush, it seems the most linear evolution in his discography. 2022’s Wayward Faith was a folk record crafted with the philosophy of ambient music, packed with understated details that rewarded close, repeated listening. Compared to None of This Will Matter, Wayward Faith pared down effects to create a record that dared listeners to lean in and scrutinize its tiny shifts and rich storytelling. Until the Light Takes Us moves similarly, though it’s at turns more mystical and more harrowingly real than anything he’s made to date.