By It’s our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring The Fragiles’ ’90s indebted noise rock album SING THE HEAT OF THE SUN and Morgan Nagler’s star-studded yet understated album I’VE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE, AND I’M LOSING IT!
The Fragiles – SING THE HEAT OF THE SUN
Genre: Noise Rock, Jangle Pop
Favorite Tracks: “Hell Or,” “Unglued,” “Dig For Now,” “When You’re Gone”
David Settle is a bit of a one-man wrecking machine, recording music somewhere outside of Allentown, PA in projects like Psychic Flowers, Big Heet, or the Fragiles, occasionally playing in the great Philly power pop band 2nd Grade. If the names of those projects elude you, don’t worry, Settle’s musical instincts get nicely compartmentalized into boxes with each, ranging from post-punk to basement punk to glowing noise rock. The latter is where the Fragiles ultimately sits, and his first album with that project in five years is among the best of 2026. SING THE HEAT OF THE SUN has a jangly, slowcore edge to it—closing songs ”Hard Work Is Heaven” and “When You’re Gone” are a combined 10 minutes of earnest, lumbering rock indebted to the likes of Spirtualized and Galaxie 500. The quieting, beautiful lo-fi earnestness of those two songs is certainly a guiding sound to the record writ large, though its best songs are a hazy slurry of guitars and uptempo drum jams; “Dig For Now” delightfully deconstructs into a grinding Yo La Tengo jag, and “Hell Or,” with a driving and immediate rhythm section, builds into one of the year’s best, a massive, fuzzy runaway train of a tune. But as a piece, SING THE HEAT OF THE SUN is a full display of DIY noise rock pushed to the absolute limits, from bendy singer-songwriter fare to big ‘90s indie tentpole sounds. Settle’s work across any of his various musical projects is always notable, but his latest with the Fragiles hits with a unique sonic boom fitting to break out of Philly’s vast alt-rock scene. You can hear it over on Bandcamp.
Morgan Nagler – I’VE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE, AND I’M LOSING IT
Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Rock
Favorite Tracks: “Cradle The Pain,” “Hurt,” “Grassoline,” “Greetings From Mars”
I think I’d argue that Morgan Nagler has quite a bit to lose.
Though born in Oregon, Nagler is about as Los Angeles as they come, a fixture of the glitzy promise of the city through and through. A child actor who appeared in films like AMERICAN PIE 2 and the now-being-reclaimed Tony Scott flop DOMINO, Nagler helped form the band Whispertown in the mid-2000s, who alongside another child actor-fronted band in Rilo Kiley, would make moderate waves in the Los Angeles indie rock scene. Continuing to act in music videos and indie features, racking up co-writes with the likes of HAIM and Gillian Welch and Phoebe Bridgers, and opening for bands like Bright Eyes and the Breeders, she represents a journeyman’s path through entertainment, a CV filled with strange encounters and interesting stories.
As such, you can hear a life lived on her solo debut I’VE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE, AND I’M LOSING IT. It’s some of the cleverest and satisfying songwriting you’ll hear all year, the work of an artist who has probably been writing these songs in some form or fashion for a long time. It’s about heartbreak, and about pain, but there is a wizened, matter-of-fact perspective to it—each song is chock-full of prophetic anecdotes: “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather die,” she plainly states, “Then quit following shooting stars.” “I know there’s nothing we can do about the spiral,” she coos, “and I know there really ain’t no point in holding high hopes.”
It’s been a big year for Kyle Thomas. In addition to releasing the best King Tuff album in nearly 15 years in MOO, he’s also responsible for producing and engineering I’VE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE, AND I’M LOSING IT. The album has a big, fuzzy, warm sound—Nagler’s vocals have an infectiously vulnerable gnarl to them; on “Grassoline,” you can hear her twisted, high-pitch voice cheekily bounce from witticism to witticism—but the music is often far more rocking than current musical trends or the features on the album would lead you to think. Each nook and cranny is filled with indie rock royalty; you can hear Bethany Cosentino, Madi Diaz, and Allison Crutchfield offering backing vocals on highlight “Hurt,” or Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy shredding on opener “Cradle The Pain,” or the tender, wandering playing of Courtney Barnett on “Another Mona LIsa.” It’s a who’s who behind the scenes, but none of that overshadows Nagler in any way—in fact, if you weren’t looking at the liner notes you’d probably never know any of them are involved. That’s perhaps why it’s one of the best albums of the year, this artifact of top-to-bottom entertainment that works devoid of any of that context. You can hear for yourself over on Bandcamp.
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