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A look at our top releases of the month also featuring Chinese American Bear, Charlie Franklin, Aldous Harding, paper hats, MLEKO and more. |
| 1000 Rabbits by Ché Deedigan | Words: Lloyd Bolton unless stated |
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1000 Rabbits – ‘Are we friends yet?’ |
The debut EP from 1000 Rabbits has been one of the year’s most anticipated releases for those tuned into the fast-rising London ensemble. ‘Are we friends yet?’ plays out the appeal of the live shows which created this buzz, particularly in the ranging song structures and insistent, affirming power of each performance. Lyrics are instinctive and insist upon hard-fought human joy, exemplified by the climaxes of ‘White Horse’ and ‘Spring Cleaning’. The setup of orchestral and synth elements hinges on ambitious and tight arrangements, but where the band are at their best is in pushing beyond these frameworks in expressive moments of release. The slowburn of ‘Bear Hunt’ provides a particular highlight, blossoming into widescreen vividity only after a careful, delicate extended introduction. Throughout this EP, however, are moments of inspiration which attest to a band in a very exciting place indeed. |
Max Winter – like the season! |
Max Winter’s ‘like the season!’ suggests just why people are getting really rather excited about the South London composer/producer. On a cursory listen, you may find yourself double-checking you are still listening to the same record, such is it’s stylistic variation. Here, whiplash hip-hop-like cuts flick between an incredible breadth of sounds, including pop bursts and quotations of indie rock sincerity. It is hard to imagine the exhaustive detail which must go into the collaging of these song elements, and perhaps more importantly, it is also hard to imagine these songs existing in a context other than today’s attention-draining world of constant stimulation. Completed by an impressive feature list including Asha Lorenz, Tony Bontana and Lauren Auder, this is essential listening in 2026. |
Modern Woman – ‘Johnny’s Dreamworld’ |
With ‘Johnny’s Dreamworld’, Modern Woman have come a long way from their beginnings of clattering post-punk traded off with folk-style reverie. We feel these elements across the record, but they now provide detail to a matured whole. The punch of this style is felt immediately with the spellbinding ‘Blessed Days’, before the pace slows into a run of winding compositions. Though this pacing feels a little ponderous at times, each track is enriched by flashes of lyrical insight and unpredictable bursts of musical intensity. Closing the record, a radical revision of ‘Offerings’, one of the band’s earliest singles, shows how far they have come. This maturation takes some of the fizz out of their propulsive post-punk beginnings but has the sound of a band on the way to forming something exciting and entirely their own. |
Chinese American Bear – ‘Dim Sum & Then Some’ |
With ‘Dim Sum & Then Some’, Chinese American Bear have released one of the most uncomplicatedly fun albums of the year. There is an instantly infectious, sugary quality to this record which makes for a joyous listening experience. The sound combines modern pop references with the optimistic major-key melodies which would not be out of place on some of the great indie pop records of the late 2000s. At times, the immediacy is stretched a little too thin, but this feels like an acceptable price for the freedom which makes other tracks, among them ‘Mama’ and ‘Land of Fun’, so perfect. As an eleven-song collection, this record makes for a great start-to-finish party album, its buzzing highs best grounded by textural moments which spool out the sound in rich detail. This is transpacific diplomacy we can all get behind. [Full review here] |
Charlie Franklin – ‘Charlie Franklin’ |
Charlie Franklin’s debut EP introduces an exciting new songwriting voice. Earnest lyrics dance fleet-footed along associative lines of narrative, backed by decidedly restrained folk instrumentation. Subtle flourishes gently pull the stories along, blossoming in moments of resolution or vulnerability, completing an expressive whole. Produced by fellow alt-folk songwriter Natalie Wildgoose, these five songs offer a brief glimpse of an artist we’re looking forward to hearing more from. |
Aldous Harding – ‘Train On The Island’ |
‘Train On The Island’ weaves a tapestry of life’s chapters, the central metaphor of travel and return playing out across its ten songs. Modern folk can be a difficult place to tap into, with the world losing the traditions of storytelling and magic that bind together many old worlds. Yet with this album, Harding’s vocals and poetry evoke themes that are alternately universal and present-minded: Childhood, womanhood, travelling, touring, becoming, and the urge for going. Throughout, unconventional, non-linear song structures slowly form into coherence in their tidal circularity, making for masterful storytelling through song. We pull ourselves away, we repeat ourselves, we push ourselves forward. (Jessie Smith) |
paper hats – ‘Once was enough’ |
On debut EP ‘Once was enough’, London’s long-time live favourites paper hats distil their uncompromising live sound. Weaving together complex rhythms, intricate melodies and tight interplay, the band master a balance of measured tension against moments which still feel fresh and impulsive – heard particularly on ‘Tether’ and ‘Grin Rhino’. Elsewhere, ‘D’Artangnan is perhaps the highlight, shifting unpredictably between indelible clatters of noise and lucid breakdowns which throw it into relief. |
MLEKO – ‘The Feast of St. Perpetua’ |
MLEKO’s debut EP ‘The Feast of St. Perpetua’ shifts and snarls with relentless ambition. It’s a collection of songs that delight in largely disregarding genre and structure. This is the sound of a band refusing to be paralysed by overthinking what they want to be and letting the uneasiness of the middle ground become the whole point. The self-imposed ‘Gub rock’ tag they have taken on frees them of any sonic lineage to honour. (Marty Hill) [Full review here] |
David Cronenburg’s Wife – ‘Department of Biology’ |
‘Department of Biology’ is a transportive collection, flashing us between vividly drawn scenes and time periods held together by a punk orchestral quality reminiscent of the early Velvets/’Chelsea Girl’ sound of the Factory. Highlights write the ancient and the mythic in indie rock vernacular, such that we may empathise, for example, with the unorthodox Old Testament tribulations of Lot, or reconsider our fantasies of romantic rendezvous with a mermaid. The driving backing anchors the continuities of human emotion across time, a measured restraint making each moment feel essential. The record builds on the band’s mission to expand the bounds of subject matter for indie rock while adding some of their finest songs to date to the discography. [Full review here] |
For Breakfast – ‘Longer Than Spring’ |
North London seven-piece For Breakfast return with their debut album ‘Longer Than Spring’, expanding the palette of their gargantuan sound across album length. The band brilliantly measure tone and texture, such that the stories suggested by their lyrics seamlessly continue in abstract through extended instrumental passages. Combining jazz and folk influences within an expansive psych rock centre, ‘Longer Than Spring’ has an expressive tenderness which the product of rare restraint among a sprawling lineup who bring out the best of each other’s playing. |
Brighton singer-songwriter Maximilian returns with new EP ‘Diurnals’. Having gained increasing recognition over the past few months, this collection builds on the core strengths of his work: vivid lyricism and intimate charm. Here, he strips down the sound of 2024 album ‘Surrender’ to its warmer acoustic tones, centring the songs’ most essential qualities. ‘Soft Song For A Worried Mind’ is a wonderful slice of jangle pop which sets up the closer felt compositions of the rest of the EP. |
Zilcho Hamblin – ‘Zilcho’ |
On his self-titled debut EP, Zilcho Hamblin builds on his crooning Americana vision in an expansive array of directions. Opener ‘Ghosts of Feeling’ has the cantering, swashbuckling quality of the more uptempo Scott Walker numbers, though a cowboy mouth delivery gives it an attitude more reminiscent of Jacques Dutronc. The collection takes from such cinematic touchpoints, but grounds them with a rough-hewn authentic intimacy. ‘Atla’ is transportive in its combination of warm electronic keys and the natural expansiveness of voice and orchestral strings, reminiscent of Nick Cave’s softer-edged work. These moments of considered richness play off against more impulsive compositions, such that ‘Zilcho’ shows an impressive depth to an artist who has been quietly building interest in the dry ice smoke of small London venues for a number of years now. |
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