Artist: The Specific Heats'
Album: Everything We Never Were (But Always Wanted To Be)
Label: Summerman Records, Santa Fe
Genre: Jangle-pop / garage / surf,
Rating (1-10): 10
Recommended Tracks: 1, 5, 8, 9
Reviewer/Show: DJ Norina, Afternoon Freeform
Date: October 2026
The Specific Heats call themselves purveyors of garage and jangle-pop infused with surf twang, anxiety, and chaos. On Everything We Never Were (But Always Wanted to Be), that description holds up. Released in July 2026, it’s the band’s third full-length and their second since returning from hiatus. It mixes post-punk, protest, and classic pop into a bright, jangly set.
The band started in a Boston basement and now splits its time between Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Boston. The current lineup is Mat Patalano on guitars, vocals, Mellotron, Farfisa and Vox organs, and electric sitar; Keira Flynn-Carson on drums and vocals; and Caitlin Evans on bass and vocals. New Mexico players Gina Pomponio (drums) and Chad Lindsay (Farfisa organ) join on tracks 5, 6, and 8.
Every track is upbeat and poppy. The sounds are familiar, with echoes of the ’60s, R.E.M., surf classics, and the Allah-Las, but the band makes them all its own.
“Eviction Notice” opens the album with a bright, fresh sound not unlike R.E.M. “Greed Over People” goes full surf, with some nice drumming. On “Smear Campaign/Tesseract Blue,” driving guitars meet a retro psych-pop sound that recalls the Mamas and the Papas. “Sedentary Heart” is a slight throwback to Freddy Cannon’s 1962 classic “Palisades Park.” “I Can’t Go Back” has the clean, spring-reverb guitar lines and laid-back vintage rhythms of the Allah-Las.
My favorite is “Invitation,” which lyrically interpolates Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street.” It gets me dancing every time.
