Take a break, take a breath, take a seat. STAVROZ return with their second full-length album Take a Seat, out October 17th via Moodfamily. Written and recorded during their Kick Up The Dust tour, Take a Seat captures STAVROZ in their most focused and free form. The music drifts through dusty deserts, humid cities, and late-night reflections while maintaining the acoustic-infused electronica that has defined their sound since the early releases The Ginning and Kasambila.

Born in East Flanders as a DJ project by IJsbrand De Wilde and Gert Beazar, and expanded with Maxim Helincks and Pieter De Meester, STAVROZ have carved their own lane in electronic music. Take a Seat continues this pursuit, sitting between the organic and the synthetic, between movement and stillness.

While touring across North Africa and the Middle East, STAVROZ collected instruments such as the gembri and qarqeba. “We bought some of them, learned how to play them and figured out a way to implement these and other instruments into our music in a way that fits”, STAVROZ explains. “This has proven to be a difficult exercise, but this is one of the ways that makes us stand out from the rest in electronic music. Rock meets electronic meets soundtrack”.

The band’s studio palette combines these new instruments with vintage synths (Roland Juno-60, Korg MS20), Rhodes piano, acoustic guitars, baritone and alto saxophones, and Eurorack modular systems. Software tools such as Native Instruments’ The Mouth and Reaktor add another dimension, while drum programming blends Ableton workflows with analog synthesis for both groove and texture.

The album opens with Hunt, a slow-burning single described as “a camel race deep in the desert – with robot jockeys.” Tense, dusty, and cinematic, it brings listeners closer to the feel of STAVROZ’s live performances. By contrast, Para Rio shows the group at their most delicate. Written for the newborn daughter of one band member, it carries the tenderness of a first embrace. Another highlight, Lilac, features acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter Ry X, whose recognizable, emotive vocals shape a haunting atmosphere that hovers between melancholy and hope.

In an age where singles dominate, STAVROZ continue to show that the album format still matters. Take a Seat unfolds as a 14-track journey, meant to be heard in full rather than in fragments. It will be released on October 17 via Moodfamily, available digitally and on vinyl.