While many of their ‘90s indie peers have reconvened to plunder the nostalgia market, Embrace never went away. There were time outs and part time jobs along the way, but Yorkshire’s finest miserabilists have continued to knock out original albums rather than rely on the past. ‘Avalanche’ is their ninth studio effort, with frontman Danny McNamara in an open-hearted mood while throwing light upon his relatively recent OCD diagnosis.
A couple of the tracks address it directly: Pure O, which at first seems rather bland until the subject matter strikes a chord, and the quite excellent Get Out of My Own Way, a song that backs up McNamara’s assertion that it invoked familiar feelings of writing some of the band’s early hits. Both cuts are about “when your own head turns on you”, according to McNamara, but it’s the latter that you’d turn to if someone asked you to encapsulate Embrace’s anthemic appeal.
A couple of beautiful piano ballads also admirably manage to tap into the band’s DNA. The sorrowful Deny’s lyrics tell a story of lost love — “You will always be the one that got away” – while closer The Power creates an ambience of sadness that the band are so adept at achieving.
For the rest of the album, Embrace lean more towards a faster, more immediately rousing direction. Up tempo opener Stop perhaps bears these characteristics most obviously, McNamara declaring “I could live forever” as its chorus reaches for the heights of old. Straightforward rocker Emily is an enjoyable romp at odds with much of the album, and there are a few moments when it feels like they’re stretching a little too hard to reach those heights.
Road to Nowhere is one such occasion, but the introduction of second vocalist Richard McNamara is both a nice switch that also serves to elevate the song higher. Funny feels a little directionless, using “fuck” within the lyrics just for the sake of it, but the synth-driven Up in Your Feelings is more interesting, shrugging off the standard template to try something a little different with its percussive drive.
McNamara has spoken of ‘Avalanche’ being the third album of a trilogy, partly influenced by meeting his wife. It was this relationship that helped him realise that life is for living in the now, having always been looking ahead to the next thing. As such, these songs are “written in the moment” during a time that his life was “fragile, ridiculous, beautiful, terrifying” all at the same time. Fragility and beauty are exactly what its three piano ballads deliver, while the rest of the album will satisfy followers who prefer the instant, euphoric anthems. Thirty years into their career and Embrace are still here, still relevant.
Embrace Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon November 09 2026 - ABERDEEN Music Hall
Tue November 10 2026 - GLASGOW Barrowland
Thu November 12 2026 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE NX
Fri November 13 2026 - LEEDS O2 Academy Leeds
Sat November 14 2026 - MANCHESTER Manchester Academy
Sun November 15 2026 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Tue November 17 2026 - BRIGHTON Dome
Thu November 19 2026 - BRISTOL Bristol Beacon
Fri November 20 2026 - LONDON Roundhouse
Sat November 21 2026 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy Birmingham
Sun November 22 2026 - CAMBRIDGE Corn exchange
Tue November 24 2026 - MARGATE Dreamland
Thu November 26 2026 - TORQUAY Arena Torquay
Fri November 27 2026 - SOUTHAMPTON O2 Guildhall Southampton
Sat November 28 2026 - CARDIFF Tramshed
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