Music Industry News

Crooked alt-rock Menzies unleash ‘Mash Potato’, a wiry, melodic tempest that announces their highly-anticipated debut album Holding My Cold Hand, Even Though Yours Is Warm, out Friday 8th May 2026.

“I used to be so embarrassed about having been a magician.. now the music and magic seem to find themselves entangled.” – Chris Brown

Built on cyclical guitars and a restless melodic bassline, ‘Mash Potato’ surges toward a cathartic peak, the beautiful and bruising refrain that gives the album its name – “holding my cold hand, even though yours is warm”>. It’s part emotional release, part crooked indie anthem, echoing the bent brilliance of The Clean, MJ Lenderman, and Black Country, New Road.

The music video, shot and directed by Michael Madden, cracks open frontman Chris Brown’s past life as a working magician, capturing the uneasy overlap between performance and a personal unraveling. It’s a portrait of a performer hanging on by glitter and thread.

Menzies debut album, Holding My Cold Hand, Even Though Yours Is Warm, out Friday 8th May 2026, balances beauty and anguish in a full and complete journey; it’s an album you can tell comes from somewhere deeply true. The record gleams crooked alt-rock nostalgia, can’t-help-but-sing-them-later melodies, and real-life story-telling with an undeniable sense of place from Aotearoa, New Zealand; trays of sausage rolls, confused feelings towards All Blacks, ferry crossings, Suzy Cato, and a face-full of mashed potato. It’s a record that lingers long after the last note, choruses echoing back like memories you’re not quite done with.

The album brought in New Zealand production powerhouses – recorded and mixed by James Goldsmith (Mermaidents, DARTZ) at The Surgery, and mastered by Tūī Award-winning Vivek Gabriel (Avantdale Bowling Club, Onono). Menzies offer something quietly rare: a highly-anticipated debut album that feels exciting, deeply original, charming, fully-formed, and unmistakably their own.

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