Black Doldrums announce ‘Repetition Compulsion’ album, share ‘Repetition’
London post-punk trio Black Doldrums announce “Repetition Compulsion,” out November 13 on Fuzz Club, with new single and video “Repetition” out now.
London post-punk trio Black Doldrums will release a new album, “Repetition Compulsion,” on November 13, 2026, through Fuzz Club Records. The band shares the first single from the record, “Repetition,” alongside a video, out now.
“Repetition Compulsion” completes Black Doldrums’ “State of Mind Trilogy,” a three-album exploration of the psychological forces that shape identity, memory and human connection that began with the band’s 2022 debut, “Dead Awake,” and continued on 2024’s “In Limerence.” The title refers to the psychological concept first explored by Sigmund Freud, and the album, according to Fuzz Club, “examines the unconscious tendency to recreate familiar emotional patterns, destructive behaviours and inherited cycles from the past” across its eleven tracks.
‘Repetition’ explores an unconscious cycle
At the core of “Repetition Compulsion” is the creative and personal partnership between founding members Kevin Gibbard and Sophie Landers. “The songs are either about Sophie, for Sophie, or inspired by her,” Gibbard says. On the new single, he explains: “The song came from an idea to challenge ourselves to write something around one riff and something dirge-like. It also fit the theme of the album and the topic of repetition by literally experimenting with repetition in the musical sense. The opening line – ‘is your mind split in two’ – is something taken from our conversations on our many long walks around London where Sophie was talking about the psychological term splitting. It seemed to fit the feel of the song and theme of the album so much so it now opens up both the album and our live shows. I consider it very much Sophie’s song because she was the source of inspiration and that’s why we have her backing vocals fairly prominent to create a dual vocal effect. I also had the after-thought to have Sophie mime the first line in the video which is actually her line anyway.”
On the album as a whole, Gibbard adds that “the album invites listeners to confront the echoes of the past while questioning whether those patterns can ever truly be broken.” Black Doldrums draw on 80s gothic post-punk, synth-pop and darkwave, alongside the film scores of John Carpenter and Vangelis, building songs from layered analogue synths, chorus-soaked guitars and driving rhythms.
The eleven-track “Repetition Compulsion” runs “Repetition,” “The Uncanny,” “Waiting,” “Beat The Rain,” “Echoes,” “Compulsion,” “No One’s Talking To Me,” “Bat Bomb,” “No Words Can’t Lie,” “Die With Me” and “Eulogy.”
About Black Doldrums
Black Doldrums is a post-punk trio from London, UK, built around the creative and personal partnership of Kevin Gibbard and Sophie Landers. The band released its debut album, “Dead Awake,” in 2022, followed by “In Limerence” in 2024, both through Fuzz Club Records. “Repetition Compulsion,” out November 13, 2026, closes the “State of Mind Trilogy” that runs across all three albums, arriving after heavy UK and European touring.
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