Sorry break the rules and rebuild their identity on COSPLAY
Building on the bold experimentation of 2022’s Anywhere But Here and their 2020 debut 925, the band delivers an 11-track project that is both conceptually provocative and sonically fearless. Merging art-rock, lo-fi pop, and surrealist lyricism, COSPLAY dissects the illusion of identity in a hyper-mediated world, offering a record that is as confounding as it is captivating.
Produced by: Asha Lorenz, Louis O’Bryen, and Dan Carey
Across COSPLAY, Sorry dismantles the boundaries of genre and rebuilds them into something deliberately indefinable. The production veers from angular guitar lines to shadowy synth textures, often within the same song, underscoring the band’s refusal to play by any established formula. Themes of duplication, disguise, and rebirth thread through the album, transforming it into a hall of mirrors—an audacious exploration of what it means to exist in an age of constant performance.
Several songs on COSPLAY stand out for their inventive interplay between concept and sound. ‘Waxwing’ imagines “the world’s most recognisable cartoon character as a shadowy player in a sultry siren call,” a haunting portrait of cultural omnipresence lurking in the subconscious. ‘Jetplane’ channels the lo-fi sensibilities of Guided By Voices, turning their classic ‘Hot Freaks’ call to arms into a twitchy commentary on celebrity sleaze. Meanwhile, ‘Today Might Be The Hit’ weds philosophical inquiry to rock immediacy, posing questions about entropy and impermanence through its pounding instrumentation. Elsewhere, ‘In The Dark’ nods to Japanese author Yukio Mishima, while ‘Candle’ reinterprets Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowing In The Wind’ as a reaction to modern idol worship.
Encapsulating the record’s existential edge, the band declare:
“We died when we started writing this album.”
“We are lost in time, we don’t have details to grab onto, nothing lasts forever. We just wear things from the past as they are the only thing to hold onto. We are all in an act of Cosplaying something that doesn’t exist.”
Produced by Sorry and recorded across sessions informed by touring with Fontaines D.C., COSPLAY distills the restless experimentation that has defined their evolution. The album’s pop-culture intertextuality is deliberate: rather than mimic their influences, the band confronts them, repurposing symbols of fame, nostalgia, and decay into something wholly their own.
Ultimately, COSPLAY marks a thrilling next chapter for Sorry—an album that obliterates the notion of fixed identity and reassembles it as sound collage. It’s daring, self-aware, and full of contradictions—exactly the kind of record only Sorry could make.
COSPLAY is out November 7 on Domino. Stream and download the album on all major platforms.
Standout Songs: ‘Echoes,’ ‘Jetplane,’ ‘Today Might Be The Hit,’ ‘Waxwing,’ and ‘Jive.’
Release Date: November 7, 2025
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