blanket long and yearn on True Blue, a much-needed reset and centering to start 2026 off with, soundtracked by gazy, punchy alt-rock.
Release date: January 16, 2026 | Adventure Cat Records | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Bandcamp
There’s a lot to be sad about these days. I don’t even have seasonal affective disorder, but as I write this a few days before Christmas, it’s hard not to reflect on just how bad things are nowadays in just about every respect. Personally, I can barely afford food right now, something I’m honestly kind of used to, but is no less sad. World-wise, well, just take a fucking pick, but many problems can be boiled down to we just don’t care enough about others collectively. The apathy and malaise is abundant, but so is my love for music which leads me to blanket.
I signed up for this review months ago because I remembered really liking their last project (as did Carlos) and this isn’t stuff I talk about too often. If I do, it’s more along the lines of heavier grungegaze stuff like Comatose or ASkySoBlack – as an Alice In Chains fan, I will be indebted to this sound forever. blanket are a little more gentle though, draped in a veil that meshes the post- and -gaze worlds with more driving alternative rock-esque foundations well. Instrumentation is big, the atmosphere is bigger, an increasingly popular modality for rock to take on these days. Sometimes I just need to bask in shit like this and it helps when the music is anything but shit.
I just got back from a walk where the colors of the sky all seemed to swirl together in the balmy evening. Cool oranges warping into warm pinks, both edged by the most prominent color: blue. Blue is the constant in the sky, something you can always count on even if you can’t see it. If there’s clouds or darkness, you know eventually the blue will return. ‘True blue’ is a phrase, a cool rhyming one that describes someone utterly devoted to something or someone, or to denote something genuine. What is blanket‘s ‘true blue’?
Maybe it’s infatuation. It’s one of the emotions that blanket conjure with ease on True Blue. Like that feeling that washes over you, compelling you to reach out to someone you hardly know, but have been so viscerally attracted to for so long and shoot your shot. You don’t of course, instead staying in your lane and yearning from afar, but your mind can’t help but wonder ‘what if?’ Floating through True Blue‘s tracklist, it’s pretty apparent that blanket leave a lot of room for this sort of rumination, and it’s acutely felt. You’re probably thinking ‘well, what’s the big deal, love and infatuation help color in a lot of songs‘ and you’re right, but what the dreamy atmosphere and punchy instrumentation collide into is what makes it fun and special.
It’s different from, say, Turnover‘s Peripheral Vision which is indebted to this mood and general melancholy of modern life around us on such a high level that it’s almost concerning. Similar themes, but much different execution thanks to the beefed-up guitar tones that have an airiness and/or fuzziness to them at times, but mostly distort strongly and fervently, and the drums clap with conviction and not a single hint of hesitance or softness (until “Leaning On You” anyway). It’s bold, but not brash; doesn’t belong in the trash. I think of “Hole In My Head” the most when it comes to these elements as it’s the first post-intro song that really sets the tone.
Vocals however is where you get all of the gentleness, the inner monologue singing the heart’s (and, sure, I guess the mind’s) true desires, however fleeting they may be, expressing an almost aloof self-destructive attitude on “Hole In My Head”, the want for eternal connection on “Bind”, and the complicated allure captured in “Summer Skin” that has singer Lynsey Ward (Exploring Birdsong, Espera, work with Sleep Token) assisting for a touching duet. It feels like home because it feels like yourself, at least those of us that have a voice inside our heads which I learned in recent years isn’t a uniform experience.
blanket go far to make True Blue feel connected and uniform though. Each song has its own fingerprints, but ultimately coalesces so well with its mates that it makes for a lovely listen to loop over and over as you stare out your window and wonder about everything from the weather to your most intrusive thoughts. It feels like the purposeful construction of the music was done in order to affect reflection in us as listeners, to think about who makes you feel things no one else does, or what distances keep you from enjoying that company with someone else or yourself even. This time of year, as people naturally reflect or think about the future, makes True Blue feel like a welcomed mandate to get that done.
So while I’m no closer to discovering what blanket‘s ‘true blue’ is – after all, I’m not them – maybe I’ve reinforced what my own are as I wade through this album’s personal jumbles of emotion that shake self-doubt with finding solid ground in the arms or eyes of someone else. It seems blanket are for the flawed and/or true sickos who still hold the capacity to love and feel because, for as blue at it sounds, True Blue houses that at its core and the music speaks it into you. It’s one of many things that makes it a beautiful listen and one that everyone could stand to start their year off with.
