Numan is a Trio math and post-rock artist based in Bangkok, Thailand. ‘Titular Character’ is their latest album, released in July 2025.
This is a very melodic piece of music that flows beautifully, much like gentle waves.
‘Asking for a friend’ and ‘Misophonia’ are lush, soundscape-filled semi-ambient tracks that sound very cinematic; the former features a full band, while the latter is just guitars and the textures they create with them.
The rest of the tracks, full band with vocals, sound quite prog to me (yes, I grew up with Rush, Dream Theatre, and then Porcupine Tree), which is basically what math rock is. In my experience, post-rock is usually a bit more on the heavy side, and I am not a big fan of that, but Numan’s music is very much to my liking!
I love the natural sounding production (drums usually are not well taken care of in many bands, or they are lofi as an easy way out of the pain that is to produce them properly), as I really feel I am in the room where this is being recorded, even though I don’t know whether they recorded in a live room together, it sure sounds a lot like it and it is a great sound.
Nice grooves on the bass and drums, very clever guitar arrangements, both rhythmically and melodically, and a vocal that I can only describe as an ‘indie’ sound, meaning that it has that double-tracked (or add chorus effect!) kind of quality.
As for the concept of the album, let me quote this very interesting statement from their Bancamp page:
“Reaching the halfway point in life is a terrifying feeling. When you introduce a new baby human into your life, you can draw a distinct line between your ‘past’ and ‘next’ selves. Suddenly, you are no longer the main character or “Titular Character” in your story. If you weren’t the main character, which previous decisions would you be willing to live with going forward? Will you accept your life is never going to be the same again?”
I love how simply profound this is. I have just reached the halfway point of my life, and I don’t have kids. I have been, and still am, the titular character of my movie. However, as most of my friends are now parents, I have discussed this with them many times, both philosophically and practically. It changes everything to be responsible for someone else, and I guess it is definitely an ego-destroyer, or at least it should be; otherwise, how can someone be a parent?
Perhaps I will find out in the future. Still, for now, I find the concept humbling and try to incorporate it in my life, even without kids, as there is something we can learn from that in terms of our other relationships and the community we live in.
Back to the album, I always have a soft spot for concept albums. In this case, reading the lyrics while listening to the album is like having the conversation mentioned earlier, with some music written to accompany it. The way the music is structured (which is not 100% square like in pop) is a great soundtrack to these thoughts and philosophical points!
Written by Spiros Maus
