Photo credit: Marguerite DuTeau
Ahead of a London show at The Social next week and European dates throughout the next couple of months, North London-based band Eel Men release their new 10” EP, ‘Glass Hammers’ today.
Eel Men have built a reputation through relentless European touring and raucous homecoming shows. Their 2025 self-released debut ‘Stop It! Do Something.’ captured a band honing tight, angular guitars and restless rhythms against the malaise of the everyday. Drawing on more Eno-esque production sensibilities and a loose, groove-led approach, on this new material the band open up their sound into something more expansive, slinkier, and rhythm-driven.
First single and EP title-track “Glass Hammers” encapsulated this shift. Built from a rehearsal room spark that quickly took hold of the full band, the track pairs wiry guitar lines with a more fluid, bass-and-drum-led backbone. Lyrically, it takes aim at what the band describe as a “decline in human competence” — a world of too many choices, distractions, and a creeping disconnection between brain and hand. There’s a sense of global indecisiveness at play, delivered with a side-eyed humour that runs throughout the EP.
Second single "When I Get Rich” saw the band laugh through the absurdity of the daily grind of life in the UK, built on a bouncing, chugging bass-line and sawing guitars, chanting “when I, when I get rich” with cathartic abandon. It’s a middle finger to the ludicrousness of the never-ending quest for more, the thought that life might suddenly make sense once a certain threshold is reached, and the quiet realisation that it rarely resolves that way. As vocalist & guitarist Jimmy Elliott puts it, “it’s the running theme in most people’s lives to make more money, the desperation of doing anything possible to get to a point where everything will suddenly make complete sense. And I feel this just never really happens. We all come full circle in the end and still contain those idiosyncratic traits, positive and negative, that we started out with.”
Across the new 10”, Eel Men lean further into their more disparate influences, pulling in elements of funk, art rock and experimental pop. Artists like Herbie Hancock, Berlin-era Bowie and John Cale inform a record that embraces contrast — between tightness and looseness, polish and imperfection. Recorded live to tape at Gizzard Studios in Hackney Wick with Ed Deegan, the band deliberately imposed analogue limitations, prioritising performance and spontaneity over studio perfection. The result is a set of songs that feel immediate, unpredictable, and alive.
At its core, the EP circles themes of desperation — though rarely played straight. Instead, Eel Men tread the fine line between tragedy and comedy, inviting listeners to laugh at the darker undercurrents. As they put it, it’s about “that moment a kid falls over and looks up… deciding whether to cry or laugh.” ‘Glass Hammers’ captures a band in transition — pushing beyond their roots and into a more adventurous, shape-shifting phase.
Listen to 'Glass Hammers EP' in full: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp
Buy the 10": https://eelmen.com/shop/
Video for "Glass Hammers" single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a61AEwrAfM4
Video for "When I Get Rich": https://youtu.be/j6aZCZsOZjQ
Eel Men live dates:
22 May - London, UK - The Social
29 May – Zwolle, Netherlands – De Ondergrondse
30 May – Groningen, Netherlands – VERA
31 May – Dortmund, Germany – Kieselwiese
1 June – Brussels, Belgium – Le Chaff
2 June – Hanover, Germany – Nordstadtbraut
3 June – Hamburg, Germany – MS Hedi
4 June – Aarhus, Denmark – TBA
5 June – Copenhagen, Denmark – Råhuset
6 June – Gothenburg, Sweden – Oceanen
7 June – Oslo, Norway – Last Train
9 June – Malmö, Sweden – Medley
10 June – Kiel, Germany – Hansa 48
11 June – Rostock, Germany – Ask a Punk
12 June – Berlin, Germany – Trixxter
13 June – Leipzig, Germany – ZXRX
14 June – Munich, Germany – X-Bar
15 June – Budapest, Hungary – Kripta
16 June – Zagreb, Croatia – Attack
17 June – Postojna, Slovenia – MCP
18 June – Fürth, Germany – Kunstkeller
19 June – Bielefeld, Germany – Extra Blues Bar
20 June – Aachen/Kelmis, Germany/Belgium – Garago |
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