In a, so far, kinda lackluster music year as 2026, the surprise release of a new Eddy Current record is certainly a "drop everything you're doing right now" kind of event as there are actually precious few groups still around as foundational to the current garage punk scene, a relic from a different era that has held up so great it feels as if they've always been a constant presence in the time i've been doing this blog, even though in reality all their classic-era releases actually predate 12XU by a couple years and 'cos of that, the first time our timelines actually overlapped with theirs hasn't been until 2019, when their All In Good Time LP showcased a more relaxed, melancholy and thoughtful incarnation of their sound that at the time appears to have disappointed some early fans, but which i was actually very much on board with, even if this certainly wasn't among the strongest sets of tunes they'd done thus far. It was a new direction forward though, the highlights were undeniable and it was actually the quieter tunes like Our Quiet Whisper and Human Race that hit the hardest and showed a more mature path ahead the group would continue to follow with their overall stronger, more fleshed-out 2025 Shapes and Forms EP. The group never before sounded quite as stripped-down and effortless as they do on this new record, more than ever excelling in the art of achieving more by doing less in a fashion that only a band this seasoned can pull off really, churning out a flawless stream of equally catchy and classy jams that tend to sound kinda basic and traditional at first glance yet reliably transcend their simple ingredients owing to a plainly superior type of songcraft they've honed and refined over two decades, all fully exposed and enhanced by their trademark workmanlike, no-bullshit band performance. No shit, this is not only their greatest LP in over a decade (not that there were that many to choose from in that time anyway, haha...), its also the definitive statement and perfect encapsulation of what this present-day era of Eddy Current Suppression Ring is all about, the logical conslusion and brilliant payoff that All In Good Time has already been hinting at but couldn't fully capture yet.
