In the magazine April 2026

Featuring American Football, Lime Garden, Julia Cumming, Wesley Joseph, Friko and more.

Having first helped to shape the emo landscape almost 30 years ago, before re-emerging in 2014 for one of the genre’s most exciting and respected reunions on record, American Football have had a hell of a journey to get to this point. Now, as they near the release of their fourth, self-titled album, the Midwest band feel as vital as ever, with a legion of new fans under their belt and a slew of famous fans in the wings, but all has not been plain-sailing. As they dive into the trials and tribulations that helped define their ‘LP4’, we’re thrilled to have the band grace DIY’s cover for the first time this month.

“I just don’t think it’s fair to diminish anything, just because it’s embarrassing or a little too vulnerable,” the band’s frontman Mike Kinsella tells us, of his lyrical direction on ‘LP4’. “If that’s what the song calls for, that’s what it should get. On ‘LP2’, I remember being pretty vague and thinking: ‘I’ll save the specifics for Owen - I’ll dive in further there’. But on this album, I went just as deep as I ever have solo.”

Elsewhere in our new April 2026 issue, we catch up with DIY favourites Lime Garden, as they prep the release of their excellent second album ‘Maybe Not Tonight’, talk leaving the limelight in aid of self-discovery with Wesley Joseph, and learn a little more about Julia Cumming’s new solo foray, and her first new music outside of Sunflower Bean. We also learn about the long road that Gretel - fka Gretel Hänlyn - has been on to get to her debut, talk riding the wave of hype with Chicago troupe Friko, and delve into the rich new world of Holly Humberstone’s latest record, as part of our latest In Deep digital cover.

Plus, we sit down with Violet Grohl to dive into her first musical release, the forthcoming ‘Be Sweet To Me’, and hear more about the new project from alt-J’s Joe Newman, the niftily-titled JJerome87. Over in our Neu section this month, we get the party started with storming duo The Itch, meet rising Dundalk rapper Reggie and get a little better acquainted with Eaves Wilder, ahead of her debut album’s release this month.

So go on - dig in! Order your print copy via our online shop below, or check out the digital edition at the top of the page.