Aldous Harding - Train on the Island (Album Review)
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Written by Jacob Brookman
Photo: Kate Ellen Meakin
There’s a particular kind of critical darling — John Grant has flirted with it, so too PJ Harvey — who is adored by arts pages and festival programmers while also being intensely annoying at times. It’s safe to say Aldous Harding sits in that lineage — the New Zealander’s fifth album is brilliant, mannered, elusive and occasionally so self-consciously quirky you want to bite the device you’re upon which you are listening to it.
Still, on ‘Train on the Island’, Harding’s songwriting remains too inventive to dismiss. Even when she’s singing about naked owls, eating rocks or muttering in odd accents, there’s usually a genuinely compelling melody buried beneath the performance-art fog.
Longtime collaborator John Parish, best known for his work with Harvey, once again gives the record its softly psychedelic warmth: acoustic guitars, spectral electronics, pedal steel and roomy percussion all drifting together like a half-remembered dream.
I Ate the Most is one of the album’s strongest moments, opening things with sparse electronics that vaguely recall Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ era. Harding’s vocal stays hushed and unsettling, as though she’s singing directly into your ear while withholding every important detail.
Elsewhere, One Stop showcases her gift for destabilising otherwise beautiful folk-pop. What begins as something almost radio-friendly slowly mutates into a wounded, slurred refrain that feels emotionally exposed and strangely theatrical all at once.
Worms is perhaps the album’s prettiest track, all heavy-lidded pedal steel and twilight melancholy, while closer Coats pulls off one final left turn, Harding slipping into a strangulated, childlike voice over a melody that constantly shifts beneath her. It’s odd, occasionally irritating, but undeniably memorable. That’s ultimately the story of ‘Train on the Island’: a record full of diverse, innovative songwriting that inspires and grates in equal measure.
Aldous Harding Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon May 25 2026 - BRIGHTON Brighton Dome Concert Hall
Tue May 26 2026 - SOUTHAMPTON 1865
Wed May 27 2026 - CAMBRIDGE Junction 1
Fri May 29 2026 - LONDON Barbican
Sat May 30 2026 - LONDON Barbican
Sun May 31 2026 - LONDON Barbican Hall
Tue June 02 2026 - BRISTOL Beacon
Wed June 03 2026 - GLASGOW Kelvingrove Bandstand
Fri June 05 2026 - DUBLIN Vicar Street
Sun June 07 2026 - LEEDS Leeds Irish Centre
Mon June 08 2026 - MANCHESTER Albert Hall
Tue June 09 2026 - BIRMINGHAM Town Hall
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