Rambling Fox

February 2026 Music Round-Up

Art by Sancoon

Time for another round-up of what blipped in my music radar during the last lunar cycle!

New Music Immediate Impressions

There weren't many new releases in February but man, what a solemn moment.

Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Laughter in Summer

Oh, what a heartbreaker of a record. Not recommended if you're feeling at all solemn. Though, perhaps, in musical terms alone that probably won't come across as strongly: Laughter in Summer features Glenn-Copeland and his wife sing quiet piano songs together, going through reworkings of Glenn-Copeland's old classics, songs from their shared youth and some newer compositions. It's like a glimpse into a candid moment in their living room, the couple huddled together in front of a piano. But they don't hide the backstory - that Glenn-Copeland is suffering a form of dementia, losing bits of himself slowly as time goes on, and these performances starting as ways to refresh his memory and his mind. It is likely that this is the last album we'll see from Glenn-Copeland, and in that manner it sounds like one last snapshot of a happy couple sharing that special musical moment together. It's just a beautiful, poignant album. I haven't been able to visit it much, just because of my own mental state. But it's worth hearing.

Moby - Future Quiet

If you've been reading the blog for a while - and in particular these regular monthly catch-ups - you know I've been in a big kick for solemn, minimalist ambient and similar compositions for a good while now. What a wonderful timing for my favourite electronic artist to release an album full of solemn, minimalist ambient and piano compositions. I've been devouring Future Quiet very happily, slipping into its soundworld and finding myself in its sad yet oddly comforting embrace quite a bit over February. I have such a soft spot for how Moby crafts melodies and atmosphere and it's again in full display here. One for rainy days, solitary evenings and moments of contemplation. The re-recording of "When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" feels a little extraneous - clearly bringing the song back into the spotlight after its Stranger Things spotlight - but it's at least a beautiful rendition.

The physical release is out in June - a guaranteed summer banger...

Gorillaz - The Mountain

So Gorillaz haven't been on my radar for a long time, really - I think Demon Days was the last time they had an album worth visiting and though there's been a scattering of great singles throughout the year, the full collections have been coasting on Albarn humblebragging his contacts list for years now with little attention put towards a real vision or taking advantage of the possibilities and opportunities of having a virtual band in your hands whose "career" you could build so much story around. But I checked out The Mountain after it was getting some massive hype in a music community I'm a part of and kudos to Albarn and co - this is the first time in yonks where it feels like there is some element of a central vision to the whole project. There's a concept, the songs support one another, the guests actually have a point and are there in service of a song instead of just making the credits list look more impressive. As an album it's way overlong and really wears out its welcome, but hey - improvements, baby steps. It's the first time since the early days where Gorillaz actually feel like Gorillaz, and not just a bunch of famous musicians in a studio trying to ride trends.

Hoard Updates

February hoard!

CD

Digital

A whole bunch of impulse purchases on the CD side this month, almost all because I found deals too good to ignore. Dreams Come True is hedgehog-adjacent (Masato Nakamura, the principle songwriter and producer of the band, composed the first two Sonic soundtracks and one of the songs here is based on the Sonic 2 ending theme) and was dirt cheap for a J-pop album; the Wind Waker OST has been on the radar as a 'neat to have' wishlist item since I first played the game; the Moby purchases were incredibly cheap on his own website that I spotted when browsing for more info on his new album. Scared to Get Happy is a five-disc box set that someone was selling with a major price reduction on Discogs in pristine quality; the music is great but the packaging is truly among the most hateful I've seen in a box set and I'm scared of the discs breaking every time I try to take them out. Finally there's Matti Johannes Koivu, the frontman of the Finnish indie band Ultramariini who's had a vast solo career in-between the band's extended recording breaks; never really paid attention to it, ended up listening to songs across his career one evening and got hit in the Finnish part of my feels, and had to grab a few discs.

Of note in the digital purchases is the Go Team live album - I was on that gig! I get to tick the box of technically being on a live album from my music nerd experience list!

Music reviews

In February I caught up with Chumba reviews, continued the PMMP run and did a random Sonic review in the middle of it. Quite happy with all these reviews tbh. Both the Chumba and PMMP cycles are due to end soon so have to start thinking of which artists I should pick next.

Most played song of the month according to Last.FM

The top track this month was Chumbawamba's "Home With Me", from the aforementioned Readymades. It's one of their most beautiful songs, a world-weary folk ballad of sharing a long journey with someone.

#music