It's taken a long, long time for Ecca Vandal to receive 'Next Big Thing' accolades. Her self-titled debut album, featuring guest spots from Refused frontman Dennis Dennis Lyxzén, Letlive.'s Jason Aalon Butler and Zambian rapper Sampa The Great emerged in 2017, and the initial buzz she garnered tapered off quickly. Five years ago you probably wouldn't have bet your life savings on the South Africa-raised, Melbourne-based singer, born to Sri Lankan Tamil refugee parents, promoting a second album in 2026 with a debut US TV appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, but here we are.
Sometimes, good things are worth waiting for.
If you've heard Ecca Vandal at all, or got in early to catch her supporting Limp Bizkit in arenas last year, that's very probably due to Cruising To Self Soothe, one of the very best singles of 2025, sounding like Jane's Addiction jamming with Death From Above 1979 in an underground car park. And if nothing else on Looking For People To Unfollow quite matches that peak, there are still brilliant moments scattered right through this 17-track collection.
Driven by drummer Dan Maio's thunderous pounding, SORRY! CRASH! is another stormer, evoking Relationship of Command-era At The Drive-In, while recent single Vertical Worlds has a chorus that radio programmers should lap up: it's unlikely that Feeder are at the forefront of Ecca Vandal's influences, but its a vibe Grant Nicholas would be proud of. Bleed But Never Die - with its memorable lyric "Swing a bat at a bitch again and show me who's the tough guy" - has a wonderfully defiant swagger, the hip-hop atmospherics of Came Here For The Loot has real Bitch Better Have My Money energy, and the 33-seconds hardcore blast of Dance In Debt could come from the Beastie Boys Aglio e Olio EP. But while Vandal is a musical magpie, borrowing from an assortment of genres and styles, nothing here sounds forced or unnatural: that's what you get when an overnight sensation is ten years in the making.
Last August, this writer saw Vandal play a killer show at the tiny 150-capacity Sebright Arms pub in East London. Rest assured, armed with these songs, she won't be playing anywhere so small again. If you're looking for a killer soundtrack to summer 2026, you just found it.
