Into Music: New Music May 2026

The sun is shining, the tunes are on and Into Creative are back to bring you new music suggestions so please have a read through of this lot, listen to some tracks and go buy the bloody records. That’s an order!!!!!!!!

Artist: Cult Figures 
Album: Reports of People
Label: Precious Recordings of London

The Birmingham band Cult Figures have quite the back story. Formed in 1977, they released two singles on the Swell Maps label, Rather, and the band included a certain Roger Taylor who would go on to find fame as the drummer with Duran Duran before they split in 1980. They then got back together around thirty years later, Reports of People is their fourth album and it is head and shoulders, their best to date.

Sadly, lead singer Gary Jones passed away in 2022 but Fraser Gillespie has come onboard and manages to do justice to the older songs as well as provide vim and spark to the new platters here. Music of Fear kicks things off with its studded angular guitars, deep bass and a bold, threatening vocal sung in Gillespie’s broad Scottish twang that simply demands your unequivocal attention.

Lyrically, the group cover a number of topics, none more so than on The Abductee which recalls a tale of extra-terrestrial japes driven by a heavy bass-line and complemented by airy guitar interludes and a spaced out vocal. A highlight on the album is the excellent Death of a Thousand Cuts, Gillespie’s matter of fact vocal about a doomed relationship is part-spoken, part-sang while the guitar loops and weaves in an out, a sound Will Sergeant would surely tip his hat to.

Mixing things up a little, Dangerous Boy is laid back, the vibe relaxed and the feathered drums are a treat on their own. Despite the suggested feel, the lyrics point to something darker and troublesome. The juxtaposition between the words and the music is intelligently carved out and is pulled off to perfection.

Side two begins with the post-punk thrill of Walking Disaster and with added “woo-ooh” backing vocals is a delight that rattles along at a fair speed but with a tight rhythm, hooks and a cracking drum break part way through. Live, this will kick ass! The production is also bang on the money via John A. Rivers who incidentally has worked with the band since their inception in the 1970s.

Space Invader is perhaps my own personal favourite, a new-wave humdinger where the band are at the top of their game. It’s also not about wee green aliens but those annoying people who stand a bit too close with no apparent regard for their surroundings. Badly in Love is the most poppy sounding (infectious) song on the album and is incredibly catchy, posing the question, is she the one? It also has one of the greatest lyrics I’ve heard in many a year – “makes me question if I need a haircut or a shite” ha ha!!!

The Cult Figures album Reports of People is exactly what it is, but written and played in a way that instantly connects. An album that is littered with lyrical gems that talks of life, people and situations we can all relate to. Oh, and aliens…………..

To order, visit the Bandcamp page here.

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Artist: The Pillars of Creation 
Album: Be Careful What You Wish For
Label: Precious Recordings of London

Not often, but every now and again a record will come along that will astound and question your inner (and outer) views on what music means to you as a listener, what resonates and why? The sounds, the flow, the concept on offer here is a breath of fresh air and I write that in the knowledge that my “go to” sounds are miles away from what Be Careful What You Wish For serves up. Therein lies the beauty, the mystique, the allure of music, be open to what you hear and just let the tunes take over.

The Pillars of Creation is the brainchild of Jasmine Minks guitarist/vocalist Jim Shepherd and he is joined with an assortment of musicians who have played with the likes of Subway Sect, The Loft and The June Brides. The album title is a nod to Alan McGee’s old label Creation where many of the musicians here were involved in various releases over the years. However, any pre-conception that this is C86 style indie-pop replica should leave those thoughts right at the door, this is a concept album that is steeped in 70s glam rock, psych, prog and rock-opera. It is an album of expression, of freedom and which seeks out a better future in this polarized world we currently live in. The message is simple and clear, be kind.

The title track opens the album, a spiritfual, jaunty journey through psych-folk that evokes McCartney/Beatles. The trumpet and heartfelt vocal are the stars here and it is an impressive start to put it mildly. The chorus “the magic of love, the will to live, we need to give, in all this spite” finds Shepherd almost pleading about the state of the world. One Way Home is reflective, the piano mournful, the use of space allowing the vocal to bring the message to the listener “look up to the stars, you feel alright“. Simple yet so, so true. A Strange Kind of Loving is the platform for the band to expand, grow and channel rage through cutting guitars and prescient bass rhythms.

The Eyes That See is a warm folk-pop track enhanced with gorgeous backing vocals from Ruth Tindmarsh that provides a tenderness that seeps into the song’s message whereas Aide De Camp is a sad lament about the utter futility of war, the marching drums give a foreboding sense of the inevitable horrors to follow and the brass help builds the melancholy feel.

Side two starts with the sound of birdsong and contains a spoken word introduction from Sid Ozalid. Bluebird is split into a ten part opus running to almost sixteen minutes and is a remarkable piece of music, often shifting tact through each chapter. The musical rhythms move like the tide, this way and that, creating a journeyed landscape centred around the bluebird. Part 4 Travelling to Another World is an instrumental break that is pure dubby dance bliss sprinkled with space dusted zoned out guitars. Part 7 The Kingdom of the Future is pure pop with a great vocal interlude from Rosana Shepherd evoking hues, feelings, temperature, depth and much more.

The Pillars of Creation have produced an album of and for the ages and one that will stand the test of time in the future. Music like this continues to surprise, delight, provide questions (plus answers) and to enthrall. A progressive masterpiece.

To order, head to the Bandcamp page here.

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Artist: Robertson
Album: Robertson

Following a number of releases with The Vapour Trails plus a canon of solo work, it really is no surprise to hear new music from Aberdeen’s Kevin Robertson. This time under the guise of his surname Robertson but also in tandem with his son, Scott. Add in a host of musicians and the result is an assured album covering thirteen slabs of musical jangle-pop. The Beatles-y Everything I Want To See is a statement opener with a great guitar break that sets an immediate standard and over the next forty minutes or so, the temperature dial rarely falters from red-hot.

Girl In The Parlour, Jean immediately follows and right away, there is a sense of a more complex arrangement, a psych-folk tune that benefits from a wonderful cello courtesy of Marco Pescosdido. The woozy harmonica and steel pedal guitar wrap around a suitably wistful vocal on Sticking Around while Birdy In The Window meanders with harmonious west coast melodies, the music as fresh as a spring morning, the guitars add weight as they soar, a true album highlight.

Elsewhere, the introduction of Patricio Bottcher’s horns on But Today elevates the track somewhat and combine with prevalent drums perfectly. Jim Shepherd (Jasmine Minks) adds guitar to To You, a no frills, all thrills rocker. Illusion To Me is a blissed out psych-rocker which is reminiscent of Tomorrow Never Knows while the closing Noon & Night sees the return of the steel pedal guitar, it’s sound pulling and tugging at the heart, a musical lament with a vocal that hits the high spots.

If you are familiar with Robertson, you’ll know the depth and level of music he consistently produces and if you are not, then you are in for an absolute treat with this album. File next to the likes of Butler, Blake & Grant, it’s that good.

To order the album, head to the Bandcamp page here.

John Welsh
@welshjb

Links:

@stevemaythe1st @PrecRecs

@behappydadda

@KevinRo17521365