Release Date: January 16th 2026. Record Label: Adventure Cat Records. Formats: DD
True Blue - Tracklisting
The Swallows reflecting In The Water
Hole In My Head
Levitate
Bind (feat. Wayside)
Leaning On You
Summer Skin (feat. Lynsey Ward)
Wallflower
True Blue
Members
Bobby Pook - Guitar / vox
Simon Morgan - Guitar
Ash Betton - Bass
Lucas Fletcher - Drums
Review
Post-Rock/Shoegaze collective Blanket offer their fourth full length album with True Blue and it sees the highly talented band with their most honest, raw and emotionally charged record yet. There are still moments of Post-Metal, Doomgaze, Grunge, Psych and Alt Rock melodies which have been used to superb effect on their previous excellent albums of Ceremonia and Modern Escapism. This time round, Blanket feel more retrospective and willing to let their Post-Rock and Shoegaze aspect of their music to be the deciding creative factor of how the album ultimately sounds.
With the heavy instrumental sounds being closer to the likes of HUM, NOTHING, SLOWDIVE, HUM and SLOW CRUSH this doesn’t stop the band creating their own highly original dreamlike soundscapes of their own within the excellent batch of opening tracks of The Swallows Reflecting In The Water, Hole In My Head and Levitate. The guitars from Bobby Pook and Simon Morgan consist of a Grunge / Shoegaze dynamic with Ash Betton On Bass and Lucas Fletcher on Drums providing a more cerebral and progressive rhythm section for the melodies to become quite heavy along the way.
The lyrics are beautifully poetic and simply magical that offer a sense of realism and uplifting melodies which comes from the classic era of the Shoegaze scene most notably the eighties and nineties scene. There’s a cool level of psychedelic distortion being used along the way which lets a more gloomy atmosphere slowly make itself known with Blanket still keeping close to their Post-Rock and Shoegaze roots. The music can be furiously fast-paced with a soulful Post-Metal energy emitting from those intense guitars throughout the album.
Blanket does experiment with ambient sounds, samples and trippy soundtrack effects within the more reflective parts of the album. This allows True Blue to feel highly inspired by the Post-Punk scene with its experimental approach whilst still remaining within the core creative themes on tracks such as Bind, Summer Skin and Wallflower.
The album does feature contributions from Australian Alt Rock/Indie Rockers Wayside on Bind and Lynsey Ward (Exploring Birdsong) on Summer Skin. These two tracks feature the most interesting vocal arrangements and musical delivery on the whole record. As this allows Blanket to transform their musical perspective to allow these guest artists to fully thrive in a slightly different musical environment.
The final two tracks of Wallflower and True Blue sees Blanket undergo a minor Progressive Rock transformation with longer time frames to work upon. The music evolves into a heavier and more emotionally engaging style of Post-Metal and Post-Doom landscapes which is perhaps my favourite part of the entire record. There’s more precise aggression within their music but the superb vocals from Bobby Pook keep things real and grounded.
True Blue is a refreshingly real, honest and beautifully played album that allows Blanket to offer their most grown up, mature and gritty record to date. Blanket are going from strength to strength which seems them vastly becoming one of the best Post-Rock/Shoegaze bands the UK scene currently has to offer right now.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Since Always Press for the promo.
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