The Best Releases of January 2026
We’ve listened to them all, we’ve deliberated, and we have the best of a brilliant bunch.
January is a sleepy month, and it feels like it lasts for a year — kind of like that Twilight scene where Bella is sitting on a chair as the months pass her by. It’s an interesting month to release music because, by the time people are putting their lists of the best music together at the end of the year, January seems like a distant memory. Of course, if you have memory issues like me, then it’s ten times worse.
Plenty of musicians shared their first offering with the world last month and truly announced themselves with a complete body of work. Ex-THE GOA EXPRESS frontman James Clarke moved to Paris and became C Douglas, then shared a debut EP full of charm, and felt like a boy becoming a man. Americana-folk Londoner Henry Grace shared his second album, a truly earnest offering that covers his life since his debut, Living In America, was released in 2022 — everything from losing love, finding new love to moving back home to England.
It seems only last year we were listening to Brighton six-piece Flip Top Head’s debut single, Seventh Bell Number, but, no, their first release came out in 2023, and January’s Trilateral Machine is their second EP.
EPs:
1. Westside Cowboy — So Much Country ‘Till We Get There
If you haven’t been privy to Westside Cowboy’s music yet, then what are you doing? The Manchester-based four-piece are killing it right now, and the band only released their debut single, I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You), in November of 2024 — it’s currently sitting at a pretty impressive 1.2 million streams, and that’s no mean feat. The debut single shaped the infrastructure of their first EP, This Better Be Something Great, released in August of last year via Heist or Hit and Nice Swan Records and swiftly followed by the release of their second EP in January. If their fast rise wasn’t impressive enough, the band are set to support Geese on their UK tour next month, which is inevitably going to catapult them to even bigger heights.
If this is the future of music, then I’m excited to see more from this four.
Read our full EP review here.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Standout track: Strange Taxidermy
2. Ninush — The Flowers I See You In
Every so often, you hear a voice so beautiful that it really makes you stop and take in all its light. Ninush, real name Nina Lim, only released her debut single in March of last year, and yet she’s already carving a delightful sound for herself on her debut EP, which has created a buzz on TikTok. Get aboard this flight, and let Ninush transport you to a much better world, where birds never stop singing, and the grass is always green.
Rating: ★★★★★
Standout track: The End
3. Pem — other ways of landing
Keeping to that similar, hauntingly beautiful theme, Pem dropped this delightful EP right on the cusp of February, transporting us out of January, aka the longest month of the year (it should be, anyway, because it sure as hell feels like it) and into a new month. Only releasing her first track in 2024, this is Pem’s second EP and, my God, is it a good one.
Rating: ★★★★½
Standout track: m4 windy
4. C Douglas — 75019
When I spoke to C Douglas — aka James Clarke — one evening late last year, it was clear to see a man who has bettered himself, moving away to Paris and making the music he wants to. 75019 serves as a taster — the starter, perhaps — for what’s to come from C Douglas, after sharing that he has a lot more music to release and will be working on that.
Read the interview here, and the full EP review here.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Standout track: If You Want Me
5. Truman Sinclair — Rivers of Sugar and Blood
After the release of his debut album, American Recordings, in 2025, it seemed the Chicago-born musician had no plans to slow down, sharing his first EP on Capitol Records/Polydor. The EP, which was written, produced and recorded by Truman himself, sees the musician, who has played with Fat, Evil Children and formed the emo band Frat Mouse, focus on friendship and depression, and particularly how the latter affects the former.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Standout track: chemical smile
Singles:
1. Chartreuse — Heaven Sent
After the success of their second album, Bless You & Be Well, last year, which kicked off with a memorable show at London’s Hoxton Hall, where they played through the album in its entirety three months before the release, the Black Country quartet have returned with their first offering of the New Year. Heaven Sent sees the band expand on the world they built with their 2025 album, opening themselves up to vulnerability with pianist Harriet Wilson taking on lead vocals duties with an effortless charm.
2. Velvet Meadow — FLOW
Few songs have captivated me as much as this one has from the outset, but, admittedly, I love anything wrapped in a bright, funky psychedelic bow and laced with enough fuzz to last a lifetime.
3. Sophie May — Touch Me
As we build up to the release of Sophie’s debut album, Stars and Teeth, we’re left being drip-fed with singles, and Touch Me just might be the best one yet, competing with Another Song for the End of the World, which made it into our best of 2025 list.
Sophie yearns for a lover, even if it’s just temporary, cementing her title as one of the best yearners of our time, along with Matt Maltese, who, unsurprisingly, co-wrote the song alongside Sophie. Yearners unite.
4. Charlie Forrest — For Now I Know
There’s lots to love here, with gorgeous folk sensibilities enveloped in this intricate, warm, poetic air. Think Matt Maltese, if Matt Maltese was gearing up to release an EP called Golden Wisdom on May 15th. It’s intricate, it’s beautiful, and it’s the kind of song you want to listen to after a long, stressful week. Close your eyes and fall into Charlie’s dream world.
5. Brother Wallace — Electric Love
It’s hard to believe that Electric Love is only Brother Wallace’s second release, following his debut single Who’s That? in November of last year, and precedes his newest release Gone With The Wind, with all three taken from his upcoming debut album, Electric Love, set to be shared with the world on May 8th via ATO Records. Watch this space, because this space is about to get a whole lot funkier.
Albums:
1. Langkamer — No
The Bristol four-piece cut through the noise with their fourth album, following 2024’s Langzamer, and firmly marks the band as ones set to explode any minute. Not literally, but you get my drift.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Standout track: The Summer That I Hit The Wall
2. Henry Grace — Things Are Moving All Around Me
After moving to America at the age of 21 and releasing his debut in 2021, Living In America, Henry has since returned home, watched his inspiration change like his scenery, and come back with his second album, Things Are Moving All Around Me. The album marks his first time with a full band backing, and leaves his one-man band time in the past.
Read our interview with Henry here.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Standout track: Say Something Mean
3. Tyler Ballgame — For The First Time, Again
Before January, I’d never heard of Tyler Ballgame — and what a performer I’d been missing out on. Pulling from 60s and 70s inspiration, Tyler crafts sonically magnetising tracks full of soul and heart, and it’s hard to believe that this is his debut album and only the beginning.
Rating: ★★★★★
Standout track: You’re Not My Baby Tonight
4. Mon Rovîa — Bloodline
Mon Rovîa, real name Janjay Lowe, makes folk music that sticks with you and lingers long after the last track has finished, and his debut album sounds more like a seasoned professional than someone delivering their first full body of work.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Standout track: Little by Little
5. Searows — Death In The Business of Whaling
Following his 2022 debut, Guard Dog, Searows returned with one hell of a follow-up, filling a massive hole left by Phoebe Bridgers in her musical silence and reminding us there’s a whole world out there to explore.
Read our full review here.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Standout track: Kill What You Eat
