Haircut 100 - Boxing The Compass (2026)

We're getting the band back together. And it's about damn time. What we've got here is a comeback album that makes you wonder whether four decades really passed. Haircut 100’s first studio album with Nick Heyward at the helm since Pelican West arrives with the band’s trademark ingredients in place: jangly guitars, busy rhythms, prominent horns, nonsensical lyrics, and cheerful melodies with healthy dashes of both optimism and nostalgia. Heyward’s voice has held up well and the band still understands how to make sophisticated pop sound effortless.

The album is a wonderful blend of songs that sound like they could have been on Pelican West while others remind me more of Heyward's solo material. But it's all good stuff. Long story short: this album has gotten daily play since it arrived on my front porch back on July 13 (see below) and I hereby declare it Album of the Summer for 2026. Here's hoping there's more where this came from.

While I'm certainly not disappointed in the music, I do wish a little more thought had been put into the packaging. Pelican West had a wonderful, yellow pinstriped graphic design theme that was consistent and carried out throughout the album and singles packaging. That sort of effort is certainly lacking here as the digisleeve is fairly mundane and simplistic.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart. Heck, I'm unsure this was even officially released in the U.S.

Tracks that sound like old school Haircut 100:

• Vanishing Point
• Soul Bird
• Sunshine
• Someone
• Dynamite

Tracks that sound more like Nick Heyward solo:

• Come Back To Me
• Raincloud
• The Unloving Plum
• That's A Start
• A Wonderful Life

At least that's how I categorize them today. Tomorrow I might move them around a bit.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:

1. October 16, 2025: I see new LP is announced with a release date of March 20, 2026. Excitement abounds.
2. March 11, 2026: on this date, there was only one option for purchase in the US that didn't include ridiculous tariffs, so the CD was pre-ordered from that option, Rough Trade.
3. March 22: email received from Rough Trade apologizing for the delay in shipping, but they are "working hard" to get my order to me. I then noticed the album's release date has been pushed back to May 29.
4. March 26: email received from Rough Trade that my CD will be dispatched on March 28.
5. March 30: email received from Rough Trade that my CD will be dispatched on June 19. I then discover the album's release date has been pushed back to that date. Frustration grows.
6. June 21: email received from Rough Trade apologizing for the delay in shipping, but they are once again "working hard" to get my order to me. Over the following weeks, I slowly realize I will never hear from Rough Trade again.
7. July 9: finally fed up with Rough Trade, I cancel my order with them which somehow includes a restocking fee unless I want store credit instead of a refund. A restocking fee for a CD they never had in stock? Sheesh. And I certainly did NOT want store credit as I will never use that website again. A Boxing The Compass CD is promptly ordered from Amazon (which now doesn't charge the tariff, so I've got that going for me, which is nice).
8. July 10: Amazon delivers a vinyl LP of Boxing The Compass, return/replacement is immediately requested.
9. July 13: a compact disc of Boxing The Compass finally arrives here at blog headquarters.
   
   And scene.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Live At The IndigO₂ 28th Jan 2011 (2011)
The Greatest Hits of Nick Heyward & Haircut 100 (1996)
The Best of Nick Heyward & Haircut 100 (1989)
Paint and Paint (1984)
Pelican West (1982):

• 4 CD Celebration Edition (2023)
• 2 disc Deluxe Edition (2016)
• Pelican West Plus (1992)