TL;DR is one of the most distinctive groups to emerge from the Australian jazz scene in recent years. Their influences, including Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, Laurie Anderson and The Necks, are refracted into propulsive forms that are, in equal measure, accessible and surprising. Led by established composer and trumpeter Peter Knight (formerly Artistic Director of the Australian Art Orchestra), the group also features three of the most compelling next generation musicians in the country, Helen Svoboda (bass/voice), Theo Carbo (guitar) and Quinn Knight (drums). Their debut on Earshift Music earned a 2025 ARIA nomination and a place in the NYC Jazz Record’s Top Ten releases of 2025. Phosphenes is their second album, releasing on 6 November 2026.

Phosphenes takes its name from the shapes and colours you see when you close your eyes, the perception of light stimulated by something other than light. This is non-narrative music, patient and spacious, that works through overlapping repetition and slowly evolving melody and that allows the listener to focus on the internal. With an emphasis on overlapping rhythms this music also comes from nature drawing inspiration from the way sounds coincide and cross-hatch in a landscape, like two branches rubbing in the wind with crickets beating time against that pulse. 

Peter Knight writes: “I wanted this to be music that is ‘useful’, the kind of record you want to put on while you are driving. The kind of record that gives you a space to be with your own thoughts. This is accessible music but it asks interesting questions at the same time, because nothing on it is played in a standard way: the trumpet does not sound the way a trumpet usually sounds, Helen's voice is harmonised, Theo has an unmistakable sound on the guitar, and Quinn brings a very personal voice to his drumming that never sits neatly inside a style. Our forms nod to contemporary jazz but really they sit closer to minimalism.”