Turning thirty brings an odd clarity, one that tends to pull between teenage memory and the unsettling realities of adult life. Marika Hackman confronts that exact tension on her newly announced fifth studio record, False Dogs, due out on February 19 through Chrysalis Records. Across twelve songs, the English songwriter sets out to chart the territory between wistful recollection and forward motion, balancing lingering self-doubt against a hard-won sense of clarity.
Listeners get their first taste of the record through 33, a track that sits at the very start of the tracklist and establishes the album's emotional temper. The song contrasts the view of who she was at seventeen with the realities of where she stands now, using the sound of a children's choir to give its personal reckoning an unhurried, collective weight. Hackman explained that the piece addresses both the quiet pang of nostalgia and the anxiety of heading into the unknown. At the same time, it insists on honoring the progress made along the way, underscoring the idea that the persistence required to keep moving is worthwhile. The song lands alongside a companion video handled by JOFI Films.
False Dogs was built with an unusually insular, direct creative approach. Hackman started the songs during an experimental stretch in her East London studio space, working through trial and error before heading down to Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate. There, over the course of a ten-day session, the project came into focus, with the physical environment of coastal Kent leaving subtle acoustic traces across the material. Aside from the occasional detail, she handled virtually all of the instrumentation on her own. Hackman tracked acoustic and electric guitars, bass, drums, piano, mandolin, and synthesizers across the sessions, later observing that the record marked the very first time she felt completely at ease inside her own creative skin.
The album traces a clear emotional arc from the early reflections of 33 through Close To Me, I'm Good, Handsome, and The Blows. That sequence leads directly into a midsection featuring Be Surprised, Everything You Wanted, Ha_Happy, and Half Painted Dog, before closing out on Hello Sunshine, Lying Down, and Crimson. Throughout, the record moves between internal unease and the pursuit of brighter perspective on the other side of uncertainty.
To support the release, Hackman will mount her largest live tour to date across the UK and Europe. The dates kick off in London at the Royal Festival Hall on February 26, continuing with shows at Bristol Beacon on March 1, St Luke's in Glasgow on March 2, and Stoller Hall in Manchester on March 3. The run then crosses over to the mainland, visiting Amsterdam's Tolhuistuin on March 6 and Botanique in Brussels on March 7, followed by Le Trabendo in Paris on March 9, Gebäude 9 in Cologne on March 11, Molotow in Hamburg on March 12, and Heimathafen in Berlin on March 13. The schedule wraps up in Scandinavia with dates at Vega in Copenhagen on March 16 and Debaser in Stockholm on March 17. Presale tickets go live on October 22 at 10am BST, with the general sale opening on October 23 at the same hour.
The announcement caps off a productive stretch for Hackman, arriving relatively soon after her fourth full-length, Big Sigh, landed in January 2024. That period also saw her revisit Skin in collaboration with Laura Marling to mark a full decade since her debut record. With False Dogs, Hackman shows no interest in slowing down, choosing instead to handle the passing of time by taking firmer control of her songwriting than ever before.
