Archives

Number 10 in Rough Trade's Albums of the Year 2026. Explore the full ranked Top 100. Shop the Albums of the Year Exclusives.

Albums of the Year 2026: Explore Twist / Bring Me The Axe (Versions), our selected AOTY edition companion release by Vanishing Twin.

Shapeshifting trio Vanishing Twin present their new album Archives, a collage of postmodern songcraft that finds transcendence in the shared experience of creation.

The album’s title alludes to Vanishing Twin’s distinctive approach of listening to, piecing together and reworking daily recording sessions. Founding member Cathy Lucas describes the process as “gathering material together, riffing with it, turning it around on itself, trying to put the pieces together and create a story with it”. With Lucas now relocated to rural France, and Valentina Magaletti and Susumu Mukai in London, the three connected by swapping songs and fragments of instrumentals in a virtual studio space. Geographic distance is bridged by their hivemind creativity, with multi-instrumentalist input from each member.

For fans of Broadcast, Stereolab, Sun Ra and Ennio Morricone.