The New World Wave, the latest single from the upcoming album Punching The Clown (which will be released on 21 August 2026 via City Slang) is nothing short of a complete family tree described by Kurt Wagner through sparse snippets of information that give the illusion of having been drawn from a meticulously compiled genealogy. It’s a simple sounding song, sparsely arranged, that intrigues through its careful use of language, as small mysteries are dropped throughout. Why did Harry and Loretta have a child they called Easy Buckets? And why did the narrator’s brother call him “Dad“?
As with the previous singles Weakened and Stella, The New World Wave shows Wagner at his Americana best – here blending a banjo driven song into a dramatically impressive choir led conclusion, emphasizing the cosmic scale of the familial connections described: even the minutiae of lie has majesty. It’s a sound that will hit the UK later this year, with two of the tour dates at The Union Chapel in London including a 12-person choir on 27th and 28th November, no doubt with the intention to capture new songs like this in full.
