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- Summary: Aldous Harding recorded her fifth full-length release in Wales with co-producer John Parish. It features a guest appearance by H. Hawkline's Huw Evans and contributions from Joe Harvey-Whyte, Mali Llywelyn, Thomas Poli, and Sebastian Rochford.
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- Record Label: 4AD
- Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
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Score distribution:
- Positive: 9 out of 9
- Mixed: 0 out of 9
- Negative: 0 out of 9
- May 8, 2026The music will make sense each time. Malleable yet singular, Train On The Island keeps one foot planted on solid ground and the other stepping through a portal into Harding’s weird and wild imagination. It’s a silly, colorful triumph.
- May 7, 2026A dozen listens to Train on the Island, the New Zealand songwriter's mesmerizing fifth record, will yield a dozen interpretations, a century's worth of pondering and re-pondering condensed into 40 minutes.
- May 8, 2026These 10 songs represent her ideal playground, a space bright and broad enough for her dreamlike visions and mutable voice to take whatever shapes her imagination allows. .... arish knows the seance-like arrangement of microphones that will allow the transformation to occur.
- May 5, 2026She's radio-ready with the first cut from Train On The Island. Taster single "One Stop" is the earworm of the album. [Jun 2026, p.24]
- May 5, 2026What matters is that Harding remains a fascinating songwriting provocateur, preternaturally discipline, but able to trip emotional wires you might not even know you had. [Jun 2026, p.82]
- May 5, 2026Aldous Harding's fifth album doesn't deviate much from her winning formula, but there are small flourishes peppered throughout to keep it feeling fresh.
- May 8, 2026Everything played is of course letter perfect with the talent on hand. One thing is for sure and it’s that the album is very much a mixed bag. There are a few too many unexciting turnouts along the way (“Worms,” “San Francisco”) that put Train on the Island near the back of Harding’s otherwise impressive catalog.
