The Inkwell is the quarterly post where we compile albums we hadn’t highlighted yet, but which are highly recommended additions to your musical radar.
Charli XCX: Music, Fashion, Film
Do androids dream of electric sheep? What happens when you replace the synthesizers of that masterpiece that is brat with guitars? Exactly this: that electropop can sound like The Stooges. Capable of defining the future direction of pop with each album, Charli continues an undeniable streak of critical and public acclaim to remain the most relevant female star of our days.
Grace Cummings: Bloodhorse!
Let’s forget the usual comparisons made with the Australian artist (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Bob Dylan… quite the list) and focus on her fourth studio LP, Bloodhorse!.
With her previous album (Ramona, 2024), Cummings had made the leap beyond oceanic borders, but Bloodhorse! is serving as a confirmation of the talent, both performing and songwriting, of the also actress – a facet that she faithfully reflects in her music, introducing a theatricality and intensity in her performance that few can achieve, as demonstrated in tracks like FAKE or Bloodhorse!.
Mala Gestión: Hacemos lo que podemos
The Valencian band’s second full-length album follows the path of their debut with fast-paced, slice-of-life tracks, but with an eclectic mix of styles throughout, emphasizing more electronic sounds at certain moments, as in the eponymous song, Hacemos lo que podemos or Sandalias del PSOE, more festive ones like Ex-Ex (pareja), or exploring shoegaze in Sí, es tu culpa.
But it’s in their most ñunk (as they define themselves) aspect where they shine brightest, as seen in their thrilling start with Morir lejos de aquí, Skol, and Edgar Allan Poe, the latter song reminiscent of classic Carolina Durante.
mary in the junkyard – Role Model Hermit
Somewhere between acoustic trip-hop, 90s female-fronted mainstream alt-rock , and indie-rock resides this London trio. An undeniable hit like “Blood,” using the same loom to weave their songs that Radiohead used circa The Bends, sets the scene for us. An album of textures and atmospheres that puts them on the radar for a leap in future releases.
Kevin Morby – Little Wide Open
On his eighth studio album, Kevin approaches folk-rock/americana perfection. Timeless songs for a road trip, for a golden sunset listening to the symphony of vegetation swaying with the wind and the chirping of crickets, or for lifting a downcast mood. And what’s more, on the table, a mind-blowing array of collaborators, reminiscent of the genre’s pinnacles recorded in the 70s.
Ed O’Brien – Blue Morpho
Although ten years have passed since Radiohead’s last album, A Moon Shaped Pool, the break has been fertile for its members. The acclaimed albums by The Smile, with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood joining forces with Tom Skinner, Jonny’s 4 soundtracks – including an Oscar nomination in 2025 – and the solo albums by Phil Selway and Ed O’Brien, are good proof. In this second album by Ed, we find ambient, harmonic twists in line with the parent band, ghostly landscapes, and, every time a minimal crack appears, light illuminating the room.
The Afghan Whigs – Soft Control
Four decades after their formation, The Afghan Whigs are going through a very fertile period. Their tenth album and fourth since their reunion, Soft Control, eschews nostalgia or imitation of their youth to demonstrate that one can age in alternative rock while maintaining danger, elegance, and truthfulness.
At almost sixty years old and after suffering devastating close losses like that of Mark Lanegan, Greg Dulli sets aside the self-destructive anguish of yesteryear and composes from maturity and vulnerability without needing to claim his comeback as if it were a show of authority, because the truth is, no one has ever sounded like them. Recurring themes in their imagery such as guilt, desire, and nocturnal paranoia are still present, but approached with a more marked serenity.
The album combines muscular and immediate tracks like “Jungle Roux” or “House of I” with absolute gems like “Duvateen”, a track marked by an enveloping piano and a deep reflection on the passage of time and mortality. Always navigating between cinematic textures and more melodic passages, Soft Control consolidates the band as a benchmark of artistic maturity that masterfully manages its lights and shadows.
The Menzingers – Everything I Ever Saw
On their eighth studio album, Everything I Ever Saw, The Menzingers consolidate their maturity with a record that functions as a group survival manual. The work captures the emotional contrast between its two leaders: while Greg Barnett celebrates marital stability, Tom May goes through a divorce. The band uses the songs as a mutual safety net, transforming personal bumps into a camaraderie embrace.
Musically, under the production of Will Yip, the quartet definitively abandons faster punk rock to embrace a measured maturity that evokes the heartland rock of Bruce Springsteen and the epic scope of The Gaslight Anthem. Mid-tempos, more textured guitars, and spaces for breathing predominate, with a vocal chemistry between Barnett and May that enhances the communal vibe.
The album closes with the eponymous track, a monumental anthem about learning to inhabit the present without being crushed by the past. With this work, The Menzingers demonstrate that middle age and the passage of time do not extinguish the creative spark, but rather transform it into resilience.
The Ocean – Solaris
With Solaris, their twelfth studio album, the German collective The Ocean faces a radical exercise in artistic survival and reinvention. After the impact of Holocene and the departure of key figures like vocalist Loïc Rossetti, Robin Staps’ band chose to renew its lineup and challenge its own history. Abandoning the geological eras of their previous albums, this work looks to the stars, inspired by the work of Stanisław Lem and immersed in an atmosphere of psychological and contemplative science fiction.
The new vocal tandem (composed of Enrico Tiberi and the multifaceted Lane Shi, from Otay:Onii) reconfigures the group’s textures with a dual dynamic. While Tiberi carries the melodic weight and metalcore outbursts, Shi contributes an experimental and avant-garde nuance. This approach is enhanced by the collaboration of legends like Thorsten Quaeschning (Tangerine Dream) and Orestis Zafiriou, whose synthesizers weave a tapestry where guitars yield prominence to introspective passages, cinematic atmospheres, and orchestral crescendos.
Tracks like “Departure Song” and “Light Pollution” exemplify the transition from acoustic parts to melancholic sonic eruptions, while epic suites like “Simulacra” and “Belligerence” display their usual structural complexity and time signature changes. Towards the final stretch, with cuts like “Milk of My Dreams”, the album drifts towards electronic music, and we don’t know if it will be in “To be continued…” mode.
This is Lorelei – The singer in my band
After years as a lo-fi artisan and musical agitator alongside Water From Your Eyes, Nate Amos revives his alter ego This Is Lorelei with The Singer in My Band, an album as unexpected as it is disconcerting, leaving behind the experimental veneer to offer his most organic, confessional, and rooted work. Far from ordering chaos or seeking to impress anyone, this work sounds like serene calm after accepting one’s own flaws. Conceived to the rhythm of the road and polished with sobriety, Amos embraces acoustic sounds and the pulse of American folklore.
Throughout the repertoire, the New Yorker assumes the role of a narrator who embodies marginal and outsider characters, oscillating between sympathetic satire and melancholy. The theatrical lightness of the lyrics contrasts with very neat instrumentation that prioritizes space and analog warmth. Far from being an exercise in nostalgia or a generic pastiche, the album breathes transparent authenticity that reaffirms Nate Amos as a unique generational talent: a free creator who demonstrates that, after mastering modern overstimulation, true audacity consists of singing with truth upfront and a guitar in hand.
Weird Nightmare: Hoopla
Weird Nightmare, the solo project of Canadian Alex Edkins, releases its second work in 2026 after the indefinite hiatus of his parent band, METZ.
This recent work from his most personal project follows in the footsteps of the eponymous debut, evolving towards a more polished sound without losing the force that characterized the first, as can be observed from the opening track Headful of Rain. Both releases are closer to power pop than to the noise rock that defined METZ.
YHWH Nailgun – Magazine
Experimental post-punk. 10 songs. 11 minutes.