Algernon Cadwallader - Trying Not to Have a Thought

Algernon Cadwallader return with Trying Not to Have a Thought, their first album since 2011’s Parrot Flies and the first with the original lineup since 2008’s Some Kind of Cadwallader. Drummer Nick Tazza and guitarist Colin Mahony rejoined vocalist-bassist Peter Helmis and guitarist Joe Reinhart following the band’s 2022 reunion, sparking a fresh wave of creativity. Written during retreats in Washington’s Snoqualmie and Pennsylvania’s Poconos, the album was recorded at Pachyderm Studios and Reinhart’s Headroom in Philadelphia.

The result is warm, energetic and full of infectious melodies, with the group’s signature sound intact yet untethered from current trends. Reinhart jokingly describes it as “Joan of Arc and Pavement in a blender.” Helmis’ lyrics shift between abstraction and pointed commentary, tackling grief (‘Hawk’), protest (‘Revelation 420’), capitalism’s failures (‘Million Dollars’) and the MOVE 9 tragedy (‘Attn MOVE’). The title nods to resisting mental overload in chaotic times, a sentiment that mirrors the band’s instinctive connection: “This is just what comes out of us when these four people get in a room,” says Helmis.