Pleasure’s All Yours

Ultra Lights — 2026

“Bent guitars, underdog lyrics, and slacker-pop hooks give Pleasure’s All Yours an easy charm that sticks.”

John Robinson spent lockdown in Atlanta with little to do but write, and Pleasure’s All Yours sounds like a guy finally getting a decade of songs out of his system. His resume includes years with Turf War and then Illegal Drugs before both projects ran their course. Ultra Lights formed in 2023 but sound like a group with a much deeper discography than a debut album would suggest. The group is an indie-rock delight, with guitars that carry a bent, slightly awkward tone, the way Pavement used to let a hook slide a half step out of tune before snapping it back into place. Leela Hoehn’s second guitar and backing vocals also give the choruses plenty of depth.

Kris Sampson (Omni, Balkans) recorded, mixed, and co-produced it, and Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring) mastered it, which helps explain the instruments’ snappy indie turns and the record’s live-room feel. What really takes Pleasure’s All Yours to a higher level is the attitude. Songs like “Diamond Dreams” and “What’s Wrong” carry a great chip on their shoulder, as they are delivered with the kind of slacker-pop delivery Nathan Williams brings to a Wavves record. Robinson writes about being a working artist getting nowhere and treats it as a shrug instead of a complaint, so you end up shouting along to every word and rooting for the underdog.

“Bad Feeling” is a great single, riding a guitar line that keeps circling back on itself until the chorus finally lets it go. Robinson sounds almost cheerful admitting he saw the disaster coming. “Good Enough” is another track that will stick with you. It shrugs its way through the verses on a loose, slightly behind-the-beat groove, then hits with a hook that makes you want to hear it again immediately. The title track opens the record and does its job, all hooky guitar chatter and a rhythm section that refuses to stop. It is a track that does not hide its influences and should give you the sense right away if you are in or out with Ultra Lights.

Kiwi Jr. is another band that hides real disappointment inside deceptively upbeat guitar pop. The Stroppies share the loose wrist and slightly ragged edges, that Australian habit of letting a song jangle without ever falling over, which makes sense given who mastered this. Pavement is the easy one to match, all the way down to Robinson’s sometimes Malkmus-type vocal delivery.

If you are looking for a new indie-rock record that checks all those nostalgia boxes, then Ultra Lights should be in your playlist.