Trying Not to Have a Thought, arriving September 12th via Saddle Creek, isnt just the first Algernon Cadwallader album since 2011s Parrot Flies. Its also the first with their original lineupvocalist-bassist Peter Helmis, guitarists Joe Reinhart and Colin Mahony, and drummer Nick Tazzasince Algernons seminal 2008 debut, Some Kind of Cadwallader. Shortly after that album was recordedand long before it was heralded as a lodestar for the 2010s emo revivalTazza and Mahony departed the band. Despite their looming influence on the aforementioned revival, Algernon broke up in 2012 following the release of Parrot Flies and remained stubbornly deceased until their fiendishly anticipated resurrection in 2022. Algernon Cadwallader are certainly cognizant of their cult legacy, a status that’s transformed their fanbase into a unique convergence of graying punk lifers and fresh-faced teens who first discovered midwest emo on TikTok. Given the long gap between albums and the critical acclaim theyve garnered in that time, it wouldve been understandable for the guys to feel pressured to live up to their own standards while making this new record. Thankfully, the opposite was the case. With Trying Not to Have a Thought, Algernon Cadwallader juggle intrinsic musical connection and shrewd lyrical intention with remarkable poise. The albums title perfectly captures that dual approach: the effort to resist being mentally bogged down by the bottomless list of daily atrocities, and the bands decision to let their unspoken connection guide this rejuvenated take on their classic sound. This is just what comes out of us when these four people get in a room, Helmis says. And this record is exactly that: an Algernon Cadwallader album that’s leisurely, intensely, tremendously their own.

Format / LP
Released /09/12/2025
Catalogue / SDLE-400A
Barcode / 648401040098
Artist / Algernon Cadwallader
Label / Saddle Creek
Genre / Pop / Rock