25 Best Songs of the Week: Penelope Isles, Arab Strap, Echo & the Bunnymen, Interpol, and More
Plus Wishy, L’Rain, Lava La Rue, Man/Woman/Chainsaw, and a Wrap-up of the Last Three Weeks’ Other Notable New Tracks
Jul 17, 2026 By Mark Redfern (with Andy Von Pip)
Welcome to the 25th Songs of the Week of 2026. This edition actually covers the last three weeks. The week before last was the July 4th holiday and last week I was getting over jetlag and our hosting company was having a technical issue that caused our website to be down for a day. So it’s a supersized list this week.
This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Matt the Raven, and Scotty Dransfield helped me decide the list. We considered over 100 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 25.
Our long-awaited The ’90s Issue Part 2 is out now. Find out more about it here. Order it here.
This week we launched our 500 to Go subscription drive. Subscriptions are still 50% off. Find out more here.
In recent weeks we posted interviews with Friko, Beth Orton, an article on the charity album HELP(2), Iceage, Bedouine, Julia Cumming (a digital cover story), Ladytron (a My Firsts), Kevin Morby, Eaves Wilder (a My Firsts), Broken Social Scene, and more.
In the last week we reviewed some albums.
To help you sort through the multitude of fresh songs released in the last three weeks, we have picked the 25 best the last three weeks had to offer, followed by some honorable mentions. Check out the full list below.
1. Penelope Isles: “I Loved You, Robert Pattinson”
British sibling duo Penelope Isles (Lily and Jack Wolter) are releasing a new album, 3, on September 25 via Bella Union. This week they shared its second single, “I Loved You, Robert Pattinson,” which is inspired by Lily’s love of The Odyssey actor back when he was in the Twilight films.
Penelope Isles previously shared the album’s lead single, “Thinking Seat,” via a music video. It was one of our Songs of the Week.
The new album follows 2021’s Which Way to Happy and 2019’s Until the Tide Creeps In. Not only has it been five years since Penelope Isles’ last album, it’s also been three years since their last live show. In that time, the duo have been busy with solo projects—Jack with Cubzoa and Lily with My Precious Bunny (who released A Moment in My Eyes in May; read our review of it here). Jack also toured with CMAT on guitar.
“Penny Isles is such a big part of our personalities,” says Jack in a press release. “So it was about time we got back to it.”
The album features Joe Taylor on drums and was recorded live in the studio, at Black Bay Studio on the Isle of Lewis off Scotland’s northwest coast. Prior to that, the album was written on a monthlong surf trip to Lagos, Portugal.
Read our interview with Penelope Isles on Until the Tide Creeps In.
Read our 2021 My Firsts interview with Penelope Isles. By Mark Redfern
2. Arab Strap: “Glamour Magick”
Scottish duo Arab Strap (Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton) are releasing a new album, Half-Told Tales, on September 4 via Rock Action. This week they shared its second single, “Glamour Magick,” via a horror-themed music video. The song makes light of the various beauty regimes people go through to look young and in the video Moffat goes through various procedures, with Middleton as the doctor’s assistant, but things take a dark twist. David Arthur directed the video, which also stars Jenny Ryan.
Moffat had this to say about the video in a press release: “‘Glamour Magick’ is about the pressure to look youthful, and how far we might go to hide our natural selves. It started with a few things I use regularly in middle age—caffeine shampoo, whitening toothpaste, eye cream etc.—and then I wondered how much further I’d be willing to go. New teeth, new hair, liposuction, eye-lifts, facial fat injections ... how long until there’s nothing really left of me? It’s nothing new, of course—the end of the song mentions the Fountain of Youth and Greek goddess Hebe—and looking young has always been an inherent human desire. Time is our enemy, and we’re all spending money on trying to fight it – it’s just a question of how much we’re willing to pay.”
Previously Arab Strap shared the album’s first single, “You You You,” which tackles aging, among other things, with their signature dark humor. It was one of our Songs of the Week.
Half-Told Tales follows 2024’s I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore and their 2021 comeback album, As Days Get Dark.
“We’re 30 years old this year,” says the duo in a press release. “So we decided to celebrate by doing what we enjoy most: by making new music.” Half-Told Tales will come out almost exactly 30 years after the release of the band’s debut single, 1996’s “The First Big Weekend.”
Middleton says of the album: “The excitement comes because me and Aidan like and hate different things. There are things in the record that individually we might not choose but that’s why I like this album so much, because it’s not the one I wanted to make. I don’t think it’s what Aidan wanted to make either, it’s this bit in the middle. It might not be 100% what we want but it’s good for the band, and it works.”
As Days Get Dark was Arab Strap’s first album in almost 16 years (stream it here). Also, read our review of the album and our My Firsts interview with Middleton. The album made our Top 100 Albums of 2021 list.
The band’s album before As Days Get Dark was 2005’s The Last Romance. Arab Strap were interviewed in Under the Radar’s very first print issue in 2001, for The Red Thread, an album released the same year.
Read our review of I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore.
Read our 2024 Self-Portrait interview with Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat. By Mark Redfern
3. Echo & the Bunnymen: “Brussels Is Haunted”
This week, Echo & the Bunnymen announced Apples For Isaac, their first album of new material in 12 years, alongside lead single “Brussels Is Haunted,” out now. The Liverpool band’s first new material in over a decade arrives this September 2026 via BMG.
The album is the band’s 13th studio record and follows 2014’s Meteorites and the 2018 retrospective The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon. “Brussels Is Haunted” finds Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant on typically atmospheric form, with the band having spent recent months back on the road ahead of the announcement.
Apples For Isaac is out September 18th, 2026 via BMG, and will be released on black vinyl, splatter vinyl, picture disc, CD and digital formats.
Almost every track on the record features the late Clem Burke, who played on the album before his death during its recording. The band paid tribute to him: “The mighty, legendary Clem Burke—longtime friend of Mac—was integral to the making of this album and heartbreakingly passed away during its completion… Love you, Clem. X” By Andy Von Pip
4. Interpol: “Iron City”
Interpol are releasing a new album, This Mirror Weighs a Ton, on August 28 via Partisan. Last week they shared its third single, “Iron City.”
Previously Interpol shared the album’s first two tracks, title track “This Mirror Weighs a Ton” and “See Out Loud.” “This Mirror Weighs a Ton” was one of our Songs of the Week.
This Mirror Weighs a Ton is Interpol’s first for Partisan after previously being on Matador for much of their career.
Interpol’s core members are Daniel Kessler, Paul Banks, and Sam Fogarino. This Mirror Weighs a Ton is the band’s eighth album, the followup to 2022’s The Other Side of Make-Believe, 2019’s A Fine Mess EP, and 2018’s Marauder full-length.
Andrew Wyatt (ROSALÍA, Charli xcx) produced the album, recording it in his studio in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. David Fridmann (Sleater-Kinney, MGMT) mixed the album. The album cover features an artwork by Addie Wagenknecht, which is currently held in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s permanent collection. “This Mirror Weighs a Ton” is the first Interpol song since “PDA,” from their 2002 debut album Turn On the Bright Lights, to feature vocals from Kessler.
Of working with Interpol, Wyatt says in a press release: “I wondered what it would be like to keep the parts perfectly legible, because everyone in that band writes such great parts. And to add some different spatial dimensions to it.” Wyatt says. “It was something almost a little bit more like chamber music—the musical ideas bear scrutiny without needing the sonic treatment of it to carry all the weight. It was also nice to add a trick or two I picked up over a couple decades of making pop records.”
Read our 2018 interview with Interpol on Marauder.
In 2020 Interpol frontman Paul Banks released an album with Muzz, a band that also featured Matt Barrick of The Walkmen and Josh Kaufman of Bonny Light Horseman. Their self-titled debut album came out in 2020 via Matador. Read our 2020 interview with Muzz about their debut album. By Mark Redfern
5. Wishy: “All the Rage”
Wishy are releasing a new album, Nature’s Pill, on October 2 via Winspear. Last week they shared its second single, “All the Rage,” via a music video.
Vocalist/guitarist Kevin Krauter had this to say in a press release: “Hello Lovelies and welcome to the official Wishy press blurb for the second single !!!! Yayyy the song is out we are so happy!! :) Some *~Fun Facts~* about this song number 1. i wrote it after seeing artificial go and good flying birds play an awesome show major inspo 2. my roommate judah gave me some good pointers while i was writing it shoutout to him and 3. the band played all together while recording this one :) ok thanx enjoy!!!”
Previously the band released its first single, “Lovesick,” which was one of our Songs of the Week.
Nature’s Pill is the band’s sophomore album, the follow-up to 2024’s Triple Seven and 2025’s Planet Popstar EP.
Wishy is vocalist/guitarist Nina Pitchkites, vocalist/guitarist Kevin Krauter, guitarist Dimitri Morris, bassist Mitch Collins, and drummer Conner Host. The Indianapolis shoegaze/dream-pop band recorded the album in Los Angeles with Triple Seven co-producer Ben Lumsdaine.
Krauter had this to say in a press release: “Being in an indie band feels bizarre when the world is on fire. What can you do at the end of the day other than carve out some space—at the very least I have my imagination and I can invite others to join me there. At a certain point you need to say fuck it and roll with it.” By Mark Redfern
Read our review of Planet Popstar.
6. L’Rain: “borderline”
7. Lava La Rue: “Prince of Bologna”
8. Man/Woman/Chainsaw: “Something Else to Give”
9. Mouth Ulcers: “Silent Pictures”
10. Peter Gabriel: “I Belong to the Sky (Bright-Side Mix)”
11. Westside Cowboy: “Pin Up Boys”
12. Lily Seabird: “Portal to the Past”
13. Open Mike Eagle & Kenny Segal: “Watching a Movie Called Freedom By Myself”
14. Babehoven: “Lasagna”
15. The Mountain Goats: “Candlebox”
16. Holy Wave: “i’m DADA”
17. Laura Veirs: “Pulse”
18. mary in the junkyard: “Blood”
19. Starcleaner Reunion: “Never Odd or Even”
20. Fiona Apple: “Horns of a Bull”
21. Dry Cleaning: “Grass”
22. Julia Jacklin: “I Wish” (Feat. The Maes)
23. The Big Moon: “Gravity”
24. Margaret Glaspy: “That Rose”
25. koleżanka: “Levers and Pulleys”
Honorable Mentions:
These songs almost made the Top 25. There are even more songs on the Spotify playlist.
Alabama Shakes: “I Feel Hope Coming”
Beck: “In the Night”
Confidence Man: “Young London”
Dry Cleaning: “I Have the Key”
Fat Dog: “Cancel Me (I’m Tired)”
Jawdropped: “Split Lip”
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: “Level 5”
koleżanka: “Lessons in Textiles”
The Last Dinner Party: “Knocking at the Sky”
The Linda Lindas & Hayley Williams: “Closer”
Nation of Language: “The Conversation”
Ed O’Brien: “Abbeycwmhir”
Queens of the Stone Age: “Easy Street”
Slow Fiction: “turning down flowers”
Sam and Louise Sullivan: “Love & Devotion”
Swapmeet: “Bonny”
Jess Williamson: “Goodbye to All That”
Wings of Desire: “The Way You Feel”
Wolf Alice: “Gospel Oak”
Here’s a handy Spotify playlist featuring the Top 25 in order, followed by all the honorable mentions and some additional songs:
Also, here is our ongoing 2026 Songs of the Week playlist, featuring each week’s main top list and select honorable mentions. (The embed cuts off after 100 songs, so go to Spotify for the full playlist.) It will be updated each week throughout the year:
English (US) · 