2023 was a tremendous year for rock & indie fans, treated to both upcoming and veteran bands releasing some of their best records to date, as seen in our Top 10 Albums of 2023.
If yesteryear is anything to go by, there’s a lot to get excited for in 2024. We’ve hand picked a collection of albums we expect to be blown away by in the upcoming twelve months; a mix of some exciting and fresh bands and eager predictions from artists we all love.
NewDad — MADRA
Release Date — 26th January
Recently signing with Atlantic Records, Galway shoegazers NewDad released some of the best singles of 2023 and their debut album is not far away.
‘Angel’ is ethereal with its heightened reverb, marking a shift from earlier indie material to moodier a moodier and darker mystique about their songs.
Five years have led up to their debut LP, indicating to fans that this will be a passion project brimming with talent and hard work – it’s going to be a must-listen.
Junodream — Pools of Colour
Release Date — 26th January
The 26th of January is set to be a day flowing with exciting new releases with Newdad, The Smile, and Dylan John Thomas all releasing.
Keep an eye out for Junodream on that date as well, releasing their debut ‘Pools of Colour’, which is already packed with some excellent singles.
‘Kitchen Sink Drama’ shows its Radiohead inspirations with its plucky acoustic chord progressions, while ‘Death Drive’ has enough “la la la’s” for fans to sing alone to when Junodream take their debut album on tour in February.
The Last Dinner Party — Prelude To Ecstasy
Release Date — 2nd February
Bands of The Last Dinner Party’s calibre are quite the rarity to come about. Racking up over a million monthly listeners on Spotify with only five songs released tells you everything you need to know about the quintet; they’re the real deal.
‘Nothing Matters’ was our number one song of 2023, whilst ‘My Lady Of Mercy’ carries the energy and songwriting talent from their debut single. We’re also personally looking forward to long-awaited set-opener ‘Burn Alive’.
It might be a bit early to say, but ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ may well be in the running for album of 2024!
Declan McKenna — What Happened To The Beach?
Release Date — 9th February
McKenna’s first single for his album ‘Sympathy’ may be his most ‘marmite’ yet; the track has an uplifting melody despite its unconventional horns and vocal performance.
That being said, the singles coming after ‘Sympathy’, such as ‘Elevator Hum’, have been excellent and are quickly helping the hype build for McKenna’s third album.
Royel Otis — PRATTS & PAIN
Release date — 16th February
One of the rapidly growing guitar duos in Australia, Royel Otis, are quickly making a name for themselves thanks to their dream-pop melodies and excellent vocals.
Recently released single ‘Heading For The Door’ was produced by Grammy winner Dan Carey (Foals, Wet Leg). The pristine sound of the track is reflected in its numbers, racking up just under half a million streams in such a short space of time.
Royel Otis’ trajectory only seems to rise with each release, becoming increasingly popular in North America and the UK. It’s easy to imagine their album being a massive hit and one of the underground favourites to be released this year.
Yard Act — Where’s My Utopia?
Release date – 1st March
After the success of Yard Act’s first outing, ‘The Overload’ saw critical acclaim reaching as far as a Mercury Prize nomination, the Leeds quartet explore a “duelling sense of responsibility and ambition, guilt, love, drive and everything in between”.
The band will be replacing the outward-facing character studies of yore with a set of songs that stare fully into the headlights of life, wrangling with the frontman’s own fears and foibles to create a sort of Promethean narrative – but with jokes.
Sam Fender — TBC
It’s been almost three years since the Geordie singer/songwriter released his critically acclaimed and fan-lauded second album, ‘Seventeen Going Under’.
After headlining festival slots last summer, Fender has allowed the gap between his sophomore and third album to grow, giving fans plenty of time to wonder over what could come next.
Whilst still unconfirmed, the 29 year old signed off his New Years Instagram post with, “See you in 2024 x”, along with the ‘St. James’ Park’ variant of the next record being set for release on the 31st December 2024.
Wolf Alice — TBC
Wolf Alice have taken a short break from the spotlight after consistently touring their critically acclaimed third album, ‘Blue Weekend’.
However, that break doesn’t appear to be on the cards for much longer as Rough Trade heavily hinted at new music soon, stating the indie gems are on their radar for 2024. After leaving Dirty Hit, new music from Wolf Alice is to be released under Sony Music, as their official website confirms.
Wolf Alice remain one of the most forward-facing bands in the UK, and any hint at new music is enough for us to get excited.
Catfish & The Bottlemen — TBC
Not to get ahead of ourselves again…
Catfish & The Bottlemen announced their long-awaited return recently, promising to headline Reading & Leeds festival this summer. On top of that, Dave Sardy (producer of Catfish’s 2016 album ‘The Ride’) recently posted a caption on Instagram stating, “Van McCann lookout 2024…”
Reason enough to get excited for a new album? We think so.
Words by Niall McGreevy