Artist: Thistle Sifter
Title: Forever The Optimist
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: FREIA Music
Distribution: Dutch Music Works
Genre: Post-Rock
Release Date: 06/02/2026
Thistle Sifter is the cinematic post-rock project of English musician Pete Barnes (Utrecht, NL).
Catapulted into disarray following a serious cycling accident in November 2020, Thistle Sifter became a platform for Barnes to express his personal struggles and emotions, transporting listeners into an ethereal world of serene post-rock, spacey synth ambience, evolving soundscapes & lo-fi folk.
Forever The Optimist is Barnes’ latest and most ambitious work to date, offering a more eclectic and symphonic sound to his ever-expanding body of work. Where previous albums A Spectral Moon (2022) and Circles (2024) strongly focused on personal struggles with health, acceptance and letting go of the past. Forever The Optimist deals with existential issues caused by man’s neglect of our natural environment and fellow humans in the pursuit of neverending growth.
Heavily inspired by writers Jay Griffiths, George Monbiot, Omar El Akkad and Siddharth Kara, the eight compositions touch on themes such as land use, animal rights, cobalt mining in the Congo, climate breakdown, neo-liberalism and the media’s complicity in genocide. Each track on the album is accompanied by thematic visuals.
Thistle Sifter has been captivating audiences with its immersive audiovisual live experience throughout Europe in recent years, including AFAS Live in Amsterdam (with Sigur Rós), Le Guess Who? Festival (Utrecht) & Roadburn Festival (Tilburg). The band has shared a stage with Oh Hiroshima (Sweden), Midas Fall (UK), Törzs (Hungary) & Mother of Millions (Greece). The live line-up features Pete Barnes (guitar & synths), Nils Breunese (guitar), Alex Rushmer (bass & synths), Koen Klarenbeek (drums).
Forever The Optimist will be released on 6th February 2026. A full band audiovisual release show to celebrate this release will take place on Saturday 7th February at dBs in Utrecht (NL) and will be followed by shows throughout Europe.
Tracklist
1. Anthropocene
2. Ghost Acres
3. Atop A Horrid Hill
4. One Fleeting Glance
5. Endling
6. Weightless
7. Et In Arcadia Ego
8. Forever The Optimist
Links
Official: https://thistlesifter.com
Bandcamp: https://thistlesifter.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thistlesiftermusic
Facebook: https://facebook.com/thistlesiftermusic
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thistlesifter6496
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/1xNcFZt6yuk9S3N1bjYeht
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