diff --git a/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/AppShell.qml b/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/AppShell.qml
index 5ee7048cc..a59d3c32d 100644
--- a/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/AppShell.qml
+++ b/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/AppShell.qml
@@ -252,12 +252,14 @@ Rectangle {
         hostName: QbzOrbit.hostName
     }
 
-    // The gutter the player bar keeps to the window edges (below). Nothing
-    // is painted behind it: the bar floats over the shell's own ground —
-    // the ambient field or the root colour — exactly like the content pane's
-    // margins show what is under them (a backdrop was tried and rejected).
-    readonly property int npbGutter: Qt.platform.os === "osx" ? theme.npbGutterMac : theme.npbGutter
-
+    // The bottom chrome band (NowPlayingBar.qml's root): full width, flush
+    // on the window's bottom edge, the same tier and paint as the HeaderBar
+    // above. The bar layout inside it keeps the content pane's gutter to the
+    // window's left, right and bottom edges — wider on macOS, where the
+    // Liquid Glass corner curve ate the cover's corner (QbzTheme.npbGutterMac)
+    // — and the band sizes itself: the mode-aware layout height (Small
+    // collapses to one header-tall row; New/Classic/Large keep the full
+    // 112px, AppShell.slint:396) plus that gutter.
     NowPlayingBar {
         id: npb
         // The small seek thumb/hit area extends above the bar by a few pixels.
@@ -267,17 +269,6 @@ Rectangle {
         anchors.left: parent.left
         anchors.right: parent.right
         anchors.bottom: parent.bottom
-        // Inset by the content pane's gutter on the three window edges
-        // (2026-09-13, every mode): the bar's ends line up with the pane's
-        // and nothing in it touches the window edge — wider on macOS, where
-        // the Liquid Glass corner curve ate the cover's corner
-        // (QbzTheme.npbGutterMac).
-        anchors.leftMargin: root.npbGutter
-        anchors.rightMargin: root.npbGutter
-        anchors.bottomMargin: root.npbGutter
-        // Mode-aware height (AppShell.slint:396): Small collapses to one
-        // header-tall row; New/Classic/Large keep the full 112px.
-        height: QbzShell.npbMode === 2 ? theme.npbSmallHeight : theme.npbLargeHeight
         // The shared hover-tooltip overlay (declared further down — id
         // references resolve at completion). All four modes consume it for
         // Shuffle/Repeat state; the full bar also uses it for Qobuz Connect.
@@ -666,9 +657,9 @@ Rectangle {
         // so this width also sets the art size.
         x: 16
         width: 208
-        // Flush with the bar's bottom edge, which now sits a gutter above
-        // the window's (npbGutter) — the dock lifts with it.
-        y: npb.y + npb.height - QbzShell.largeDockHeight
+        // Flush with the bar LAYOUT's bottom edge, which sits a gutter above
+        // the window's (the band's inset) — the dock lifts with it.
+        y: npb.y + npb.height - npb.gutter - QbzShell.largeDockHeight
         ambientOn: root.ambientOn
     }
 
diff --git a/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/NowPlayingBar.qml b/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/NowPlayingBar.qml
index 69fc685ec..9b2781db4 100644
--- a/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/NowPlayingBar.qml
+++ b/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/NowPlayingBar.qml
@@ -1,13 +1,39 @@
 // NowPlayingBar SHELL — the mode seam (NowPlayingBar.slint, phase 18):
 // mounts NowPlayingBarSmall for mode 2 (Small) and the full PlayerBar for
-// modes 0 (New) / 1 (Classic) / 3 (Large). AppShell pins the height
-// mode-aware (42px Small / 112px otherwise).
+// modes 0 (New) / 1 (Classic) / 3 (Large), and sizes itself mode-aware
+// (42px Small / 112px otherwise, plus the gutter below).
+//
+// THE BAND (2026-09-13). This root is the bottom chrome band, the exact
+// counterpart of HeaderBar at the top: one full-width piece of chrome, flush
+// on the window's bottom edge, painted surface-card @ 0.5 over the field
+// while the ambient background is active and opaque surface-card otherwise.
+// The bar LAYOUT mounted below is inset by `gutter` on its left, right and
+// bottom, so the bar's ends line up with the content pane's and nothing in
+// it touches the window edge — while the band stays continuous around it.
+// Both alternatives were tried and rejected the same day: insetting the
+// whole bar left the raw field showing on three sides (the only zone of the
+// shell without chrome), and a frame slab behind an inset plate read as a
+// bar glued onto a slab. A layout knows nothing about the band or the
+// gutter: it paints no background of its own and fills the rect it is given,
+// which is what keeps a future layout from needing either.
 
 import QtQuick
 import com.blitzfc.qbz
+import "../theme"
 
-Item {
+Rectangle {
     id: root
+    color: ambientOn ? theme.surfaceCardA50 : theme.surfaceCard
+    readonly property bool ambientOn: theme.ambientOn
+
+    QbzTheme { id: theme }
+
+    /// The gutter the bar layout keeps to the window's left, right and
+    /// bottom edges: the pane's 8px, wider on macOS (QbzTheme.npbGutterMac).
+    readonly property int gutter: Qt.platform.os === "osx" ? theme.npbGutterMac : theme.npbGutter
+    /// The layout's own height (PlayerBar.slint / PlayerBarSmall.slint).
+    readonly property int layoutHeight: QbzShell.npbMode === 2 ? theme.npbSmallHeight : theme.npbLargeHeight
+    implicitHeight: layoutHeight + gutter
 
     // The shell's shared hover-tooltip overlay (controls/QbzTooltip.qml),
     // fed in by AppShell (same pattern as Sidebar.tooltip). Forwarded into
@@ -18,6 +44,10 @@ Item {
     Loader {
         id: barLoader
         anchors.fill: parent
+        // The inset. Top stays flush: the band's top edge IS the layout's.
+        anchors.leftMargin: root.gutter
+        anchors.rightMargin: root.gutter
+        anchors.bottomMargin: root.gutter
         source: QbzShell.npbMode === 2 ? "NowPlayingBarSmall.qml" : "PlayerBar.qml"
     }
 
diff --git a/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/NowPlayingBarSmall.qml b/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/NowPlayingBarSmall.qml
index 5f0f64f50..3ee433505 100644
--- a/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/NowPlayingBarSmall.qml
+++ b/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/NowPlayingBarSmall.qml
@@ -40,9 +40,10 @@ import "../theme"
 
 Rectangle {
     id: root
-    // surface-card @ 0.5 while the ambient background is active (phase 14,
-    // PlayerBarSmall.slint).
-    color: ambientOn ? theme.surfaceCardA50 : theme.surfaceCard
+    // No background of its own: the chrome band is NowPlayingBar.qml's root
+    // (surface-card @ 0.5 under the ambient background, opaque surface-card
+    // otherwise), full width behind this inset layout — see THE BAND there.
+    color: "transparent"
     readonly property bool ambientOn: theme.ambientOn
     /// AppShell's one shared hover-tooltip overlay.
     property Item tooltip: null
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ Rectangle {
     // 1366 / 1920) are the SHARED theme token, so this bar and PlayerBar can
     // never drift apart — see QbzTheme.npbSideFrac.
     // `root.width` is the window width minus the two side gutters
-    // (AppShell `npbGutter`): the bar is anchored left-to-right on the shell
+    // (NowPlayingBar.qml `gutter`): the bar is anchored left-to-right on the shell
     // root, exactly like PlayerBarSmall.slint reads its own root.
     property real sideFrac: theme.npbSideFrac(root.width)
     property real colCentre: 1.0 - 2.0 * root.sideFrac
diff --git a/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/PlayerBar.qml b/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/PlayerBar.qml
index 6a1618c37..105bd5afa 100644
--- a/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/PlayerBar.qml
+++ b/crates/qbz-qt/qml/shell/PlayerBar.qml
@@ -69,7 +69,10 @@ import "../theme"
 
 Rectangle {
     id: root
-    color: ambientOn ? theme.surfaceCardA50 : theme.surfaceCard
+    // No background of its own: the chrome band is NowPlayingBar.qml's root
+    // (surface-card @ 0.5 under the ambient background, opaque surface-card
+    // otherwise), full width behind this inset layout — see THE BAND there.
+    color: "transparent"
     readonly property bool ambientOn: theme.ambientOn
     readonly property bool largeActive: QbzShell.npbMode === 3 && QbzShell.sidebarState === 0
     readonly property bool isClassic: QbzShell.npbMode === 1
@@ -103,7 +106,7 @@ Rectangle {
     // are the SHARED theme token (QbzTheme.npbSideFrac) — the Small bar reads
     // the same one, so the two bars cannot drift apart.
     // `root.width` is the window width minus the two side gutters
-    // (AppShell `npbGutter`): the bar is anchored left-to-right on the shell
+    // (NowPlayingBar.qml `gutter`): the bar is anchored left-to-right on the shell
     // root, exactly like PlayerBar.slint reads its own root.
     property real sideFrac: theme.npbSideFrac(root.width)
     property real colSide: isClassic ? 0.324 : sideFrac