Pinhole To Vortex

Smug Brothers — 2026

“Pinhole To Vortex turns twenty years of Smug Brothers experience into one of their most confident, cohesive, and hook-filled records.”

Earlier this year, Smug Brothers released Gravity Is Just A Way To Fall, a retrospective collection celebrating their two decades as a band. While many acts might use an anthology release as an excuse to do a victory lap, Smug Brothers (Kyle Melton, Kyle Sowash, Don Thrasher, and Ryan Shaffer) are keeping things moving. Pinhole To Vortex is a new 15-song LP that touches on all aspects of the band’s trademark power-pop/jangle-rock sound, along with a few new ones. The result is one of Smug Brothers’ most cohesive and consistent albums to date, a hook-filled collection that shines with an infectious sense of confidence and creativity.

Guitarist and singer/songwriter Kyle Melton is an unapologetic pupil of the Guided By Voices School of Rock Hooks, and Pinhole To Vortex channels both Robert Pollard’s slightly off-kilter rock anthems and Tobin Sprout’s pop-art miniatures in equal measure, scooping in liberal amounts of Melton’s own melodic sensibilities. Ear-worm guitar riffs and the tight-yet-loose rhythm section anchor most tracks, but the band isn’t afraid to experiment with different moods and textures when it suits the song. If Gravity Is Just A Way To Fall illustrated how consistent the band has been over the last 20 years, Pinhole To Vortex shows they’re still as good as they’ve ever been.