To rationalise where the comeback of A sits in 2026, let’s compare to their similar-vintaged Britrock colleagues Hundred Reasons. Both were couple-hit wonders in the first half of the 2000s, though would eventually go on to have a hand in shaping their successive musical lineages. For Hundred Reasons, guitarist Larry Hibbitt has moulded a clean Britrock follow-up to his own work, producing for Boston Manor, Marmozets, Dinosaur Pile-Up and plenty more. As for A, they once had major rock industry figurehead / member of a million bands Daniel P. Carter among their ranks. More relevant for this discussion, though, is the work of frontman Jason Perry, collaborator with the likes of The Blackout, Kids In Glass Houses and, maybe most notably, McFly. He co-wrote Star Girl, one of their biggest songs, and was arguably instrumental in snagging them such enormous status within pop and rock music
It’s worth bringing all of that up because you can see how both bands’ paths have guided their returns. On Hundred Reasons’ excellent 2023 album Glorious Sunset, they were locked back in with classic alt-rock and post-hardcore, the sort they’d built their reputation on and helped disseminate among the next generation. Prang, on the other hand, absolutely has the fingerprints of someone like Perry all over it. Pop-rock playing both sides of the ageing / ‘with-it’ cornball axis feels entirely within his wheelhouse at this point.
As such, this one—A’s first album in over 20 years, and longer since their sole pair of tentpoles, Nothing and Starbucks—can feel like an inherently tougher sell in 2026. An aged-up A is far from cool, not least because their chewy pop-rock pokes around the middle ground of Britpop-ish fare and the Shrek-core they often brushed. There’s an idea of being tapped into the zeitgeist (see All In’s references to crypto, podcasts and COVID), but seldom, if ever, is it acted upon. And yet, the ‘your dad in a pop-rock band’ shtick is too earnest to bash with much righteousness. It’s a similar design space to what Skindred occupy these days—narrow in scope and a bit past-it, but just so happy to be here.
It’s why Prang doesn’t feel all that cynical or forced-out, even after such a lengthy absence. Perry has worked with more than enough clean-cut prettyboys in his time to at least have the basics to feign, and yet, he’s nothing less than himself. On Shit Summer, it’s actually an unexpected blow with how matter-of-factly he mentions his brother’s cancer, not to mention how early in the track it comes. On the polar opposite end of the sincerity spectrum, even for the satire that Comment Leaver is, you’d never get a line like “I’m a little racist” from someone trying to put up a fake, sanitised front.
That does a good bit to make Prang a more endearing listen, even if it never settles into proper greatness. If anything, it’s A’s likability factor and toothy-grinned charm that rescues them from their shakes. Perry is a very limited singer these days, but it’s hard not to be won over by his Gallagherian “sheeiiiiiine” on Hello Sunshine. Likewise, some of the rust across Bring On The Likes and Kings Of Lowestoft is handily brushed away by some added colour and spring in their step. Techno Viking, meanwhile, ends up as the weakest cut on Prang for lacking that spirit. A quicker, quasi-hardcore blast has no place in A’s repertoire whatsoever; Perry audibly struggles for purchase and the whole thing just clanks by inelegantly. At least for songs like Walkover and Lifeline that are a bit more straight-laced, pop-punk is a naturally better fit.
On the whole, though, it’s shocking how truly not-bad Prang is. Expectations for an A comeback might’ve been nonexistent, but the fact there’s enough to like and recommend it is a feat unto itself. Even on the adjusted curve upon which albums like this are graded, Prang has real worth, if only because A are doing something that’s true to themselves. In situations like this, when clawing at relevance would no doubt be the lucrative play, it’s respectable. And although this isn’t A’s Glorious Sunset—their home-run moment late in the game that reinstates them as a true force (albeit not one to last)—it’s worth some attention all the same.
For fans of: Skindred, Ash, The Wildhearts
‘Prang’ by A is released on 22nd May on Cooking Vinyl Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
