Eel Men will release their new 10” EP Glass Hammers on 29th May 2026, marking a clear step forward for the North London band. Having already built a reputation through kinetic live shows, relentless European touring and the restless energy of their 2025 debut album Stop It! Do Something., the group now seem intent on opening their sound into something broader, slinkier and more rhythm-driven.
That shift is captured in title track ‘Glass Hammers’, which introduces the new material with wiry guitar lines and a more fluid bass-and-drum-led backbone. Built from an idea that quickly took hold in the rehearsal room, the single leans into the band’s growing interest in groove and movement without losing the sharpness that defined their earlier work.
A looser, stranger next step
Lyrically, ‘Glass Hammers’ takes aim at what the band describe as a decline in human competence, zeroing in on a world overloaded with choice, distraction and an uneasy separation between thought and action. There is a snide humour running through that idea, and it fits with the wider mood of the EP, which circles themes of desperation while refusing to play them entirely straight.
Across the record, Eel Men draw more openly from funk, art rock and experimental pop, with influences including Herbie Hancock, Berlin-era Bowie and John Cale feeding into a sound that thrives on contrast. Recorded live to tape at Gizzard Studios in Hackney Wick with Ed Deegan, Glass Hammers was shaped around analogue limitation, spontaneity and performance rather than studio polish. With second single ‘When I Get Rich’ still to come, a growing run of live dates beginning in May, and a second full-length already in the pipeline, this EP feels like a band stretching out without losing its nerve.
Eel Men will also play The Social in London on 22nd May.
You can visit Eel Men’s website, support them on Bandcamp and follow them on Instagram.
