Russian Electro IWFYLS Releases New Album & Audiovisual Performance

Formed in Ryazan, Russia, in 2011 at a This Will Destroy You concert, cinematic, ambient post-rock band I Am Waiting for You Last Summer (IWFYLS) was founded by Sasha Sokolov and Evgenii Popov, later joined by Lev Nikitin, who expanded the project’s electronic dimension. Over the past decade, IWFYLS has become known for immersive live performances—meticulously crafted audiovisual environments that are kinetic, unpredictable, and charged with near-physical intensity.

IWFYLS returned this summer with a handful of singles — preludes to their anticipated full-length album, Without/Within. Finally out now, Without/Within is a conceptually rich body of work.

Sasha Sokolov explains:

“The core concept behind Without/Within centers on a deep interest in consciousness — how it emerges, how it perceives, and how it divides the world into ‘inner’ and ‘outer.’ While working on the album, I was listening to a lot of neuroscience, astronomy, and philosophy podcasts… This interest created a kind of back-and-forth between the conceptual and the sonic: we always start by writing music first, and only later begin to question and articulate what it is we’ve actually made.”

The album delves into the interplay between these realms, dissolving the illusion of separation between the individual and the vast, unfolding cosmos. With vocals and lyrics now integral to their sonic language, the band expands its cinematic scope, layering raw human introspection over lush ambient textures and industrial undercurrents. Immersive and deeply visual, Without/Within invites the listener to drift through its shifting landscapes, where the personal, the infinite, and the yet-unseen converge.

Sokolov continues:

“The album became a sonic exploration of the gap between subjective experience and the infinite, unknowable universe it tries to grasp. Sonically, we aimed to create something that feels both intimate and vast — trippy, hypnotic, but edged with a sense of unease. It’s not a clear contrast, but more of a blur — between our inner perception, the world we try to understand, and the unknown that our mind is always reaching toward.”

Fluid yet deliberate, the album moves between crushing intensity and cinematic stillness, weaving industrial pulses, modular swells, and walls of distortion into a dense, hypnotic collage. Rhythm becomes less a foundation and more a force in constant motion, shaping a sound that is at once immense and weightless, abrasive yet immersive—post-rock at its most unbound.

Sokolov finishes:

“Everything is slightly smudged, as if perception itself is flickering. We wanted it to feel like standing at the edge of yourself — and looking out.”

Without/Within Track Listing:

1. Message
2. Contact
3. Unknown
4. Redshift
5. Threshold
6. Nulla
7. Entangled
8. Tides
9. Gravity
10. Quiet Sun

I am waiting for you last summer ‘Without/Within’ album artwork