The Tubs – Hard Life

The Tubs' Hard Life is the Welsh band's 2026 Merge debut, arriving after two earlier albums, heavy touring, and growing attention around their sharp, literate strain of jangle-pop. Here they push that sound further out: still hooky and immediate, but broader in emotional range, with songs that turn heartbreak, regret and self-examination into something more hard-edged and self-aware.

A big part of what sets this record apart is the expanded cast around the core band, especially fiddle player Chris Haigh. His playing runs through the album, adding warmth, tension and a slightly bruised sweetness that deepens the folk-pop pull of songs like Stoop to Me and the title track. The Tubs' knack for memorable guitar-pop melodies is still central, but the arrangements feel richer and more ambitious than before.

Owen Williams' writing also sharpens the album's identity. The familiar Tubs concerns of love, loss, obsession and grief are still here, but Hard Life introduces a sterner second voice: less indulgent, more confrontational, sometimes almost arguing with the older self inside the song. That tension gives the record much of its bite, whether on the lead single Who's Gonna Love You Now? or in the way bright, anthemic music keeps rubbing against lyrics full of doubt. It's a smart evolution for a band already very good at turning discomfort into irresistible indie pop.

Reviews

• a moving, funny, immensely powerful album - The Guardian
• an album of survival - Pitchfork