Placing last year among our strongest 2026 hopes, the Californian band confirms: we have finally found the missing link between The Strokes and Weezer.
When was the last time we got so excited about a debut album? Bright Green Field (2021) by Squid? Dogrel (2019) by Fontaines D.C.? Oracular Spectacular (2007) by MGMT? Is This It (2001) by The Strokes? Okay, we’re exaggerating a bit (not exactly our usual fare), but not by much. By the way, you’re probably already familiar with the oft-repeated anecdote since the release of The Sophs’ single Sweat in the spring of 2025.
Like their iconic New York counterparts, The Sophs were signed on the strength of a few demos by Geoff Travis, the founder of the prestigious Rough Trade Records. And this debut single in the shape of an instant-classic, Sweat, immediately rekindled the strokes-like spark, from the nervy guitar tones to the irresistible melody and Ethan Ramon’s slightly raspy voice, the darkly handsome frontman of the Los Angeles sextet. With its devastating chorus (“So sweat yourself/Sweat yourself/Cause God knows I won’t do it for you”), Sweat had exactly the same effect as The Modern Age did twenty-five years ago.
“We listened a lot to Tom Waits, Bright Eyes, Billy Childish, Howlin’ Wolf, sometimes Car Seat Headrest”
The subsequent singles, particularly Death in the Family, For the First Time (absent from the album) and I’m Your Fiend, leaned more into a Weezer-esque power pop, the benchmark of the genre. Before Goldstar came to settle the matter in early 2026: The Sophs truly have a golden star and a clearly defined path to the heights of international indie rock. “We never try to be as versatile as we end up being,” admits Ethan Ramon. “During the writing process of Sweat, we were more focused on recreating the sound of 1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins. I want to fly, plagiarize, borrow. In the end, the music will be amazing.”
A statement of intent perfectly fulfilled across the ten tracks of a debut album that excites from start to finish, which will brighten not only spring but the year, already crowded with rock behemoths (from The Strokes to Fontaines D.C., among other anticipated delights).
If the song Goldstar bridges a flamenco guitar opening with emo-inflected accents on the chorus, Blitzed Again, the upcoming single, possesses all the trappings of a future anthem, at the crossroads of Dinosaur Jr. and Weezer, ending in glorious ecstatic harmonies. “Most of the songs were created very impulsively and recorded the same day,” recounts Ethan Ramon, the tattooed-frontman.
On entend chez The Sophs une formation en ébullition permanente
“For Goldstar, we listened a lot to Tom Waits, Bright Eyes, Billy Childish, Howlin’ Wolf, sometimes Car Seat Headrest. I also listen to a lot of Russian and Hungarian music, especially from the 20th century. I have a huge playlist of all these tunes on my phone.” In step with its tech-savvy era, where music history is at the click of a button, The Sophs absorbs, digests, and spits out all the artists they listen to or re-discover, whether on hi-fi speakers or on his mono smartphone.
Here and there, whether the references are actual or subconscious, one hears in The Sophs a band in perpetual upheaval, with nods to Ben Kweller (The Dog Dies in the End), Drop Nineteens (Blitzed Again) or Jonny Polonsky (House), for those who remember that American meteor in the mid-1990s.
“My best ideas come to me when I’m not looking for them, when I’m very busy, when I say yes to everything, when I meet new people…,” Ethan Ramon mused in these pages last fall. Then, one day, I’m driving or I’m in the shower, and a melody, an idea or some lyrics suddenly come to me. I have to live, and when inspiration comes, I follow it.” The future will tell whether The Sophs have the shoulders, the ambition, and the thick skin to move from newcomer to future star. One thing is certain: Goldstar is the most beautiful indie rock promise of 2026.
Goldstar (Rough Trade Records/Wagram). Release on March 13. In concert at L’Aéronef, Lille, on April 24; at La Maroquinerie, Paris, on May 4; at the This Is Not a Love Song festival, Nîmes, on June 5 and at the Belfort Eurockéennes on July 4.
