I had to look back through our cavernous archives to see how much we’ve talked about Shapes Like People over the past year, and given the amount of press we’ve dedicated to the jangle pop masters, you bet we like them quite a bunch.
And you, the stalwart Start-Track reader, are probably going, “Will, you already wrote an article about “Under the Rainbow”. You can’t write another one!” Well, first off, I can do whatever I want. And second, that article was about the single, the title track from Shapes Like People’s new album Under the Rainbow. Again, I can understand your confusion.
English duo Carl and Katy Mann kept themselves busy throughout 2024 working on tracks for their debut record Ticking Haze, with Carl also working on music with his group The Shop Window. Releasing the record in March 2025 gave the Manns no reason to slow down. After dropping a few one-off singles (including a lovely Christmas tune), they started releasing tracks from Under the Rainbow, providing a taste of the intoxicating and dreamy pop to come after the snow melted and ice thawed.
Now, here in the finally somewhat-warm April of 2026, the album springs forth with an evolution of Ticking Haze‘s sound. Carl and Katy’s voices mesh in tight harmonies, and the balance of explosive uptempo tracks and deeper, more contemplative cuts make it easy to listen to the record throughout. From the first song – “Spiral Back In Time”, a slower track with energetic and cinematic strings – it’s clear the album is the work of folks who find joy in making music together.
“Spiral Back In Time” makes for a nice lead into the title track, feeling like the last bits of winter have gone and the warmth of spring is here to stay. I mentioned back in December when the song first came out that this was an easy song for Carl and Katy to write. As Carl said, “Everything worked straight away. The final track is pretty much as the demo was, very much a case of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Other tracks on the record also came out as singles in the months leading up to Under the Rainbow‘s release. “Lately”, the third track, was the last of them, coming out this past March. It slows the tempo back down, but the energy will make you want to bang your head rather than bop it; it’s about as close to grunge-sounding as jangle pop can get. Other singles include their cover of The Clique’s 1969 song “Supergirl” (which R.E.M. also covered on Life’s Rich Pageant), as well as the anthem to yearning souls “Find Me There”, which features some wonderful vocal layering along with a magnificent Mellotron solo.
As a big fan of INXS’s “Don’t Change” and Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are”, the album’s fourth track “First Version of You” touched a special place in my heart. The meaning of the song is one I’ve always appreciated. It hits even deeper knowing the bond that Carl and Katy share. This was one of the first tracks Carl wrote for the album, having penned it even before Ticking Haze‘s release, and I can only imagine the sheer joy of creating music with someone he loves led to the song’s genesis.
Other tracks that came from that first burst of writing for Under the Rainbow include the aforementioned “Lately” as well as “Crushing Silence”, which gives serious goth energy. I can picture Robert Smith enjoying this one quite a bit. But even though it has those Cure vibes, it doesn’t lose the springy nature of Shapes Like People’s usual fare. It’s still quite easy to sway to this one.
If there’s one thing Carl and Katy do well – of the many ways in which they succeed, that is – it’s writing a damn good love song. “My Paradise” and “Rhythm” are pure bubblegum bliss, and “Life of Time” takes a more serious turn, with Carl and Katy singing that despite their flaws, they wouldn’t trade each other for anything else. But then there are love songs with a darker side, written to those whom Carl and Katy lost. “Daisy”, the penultimate track on the record, takes on slightly sparser instrumentation as the Manns sing to a child of theirs who passed while Katy was pregnant with them. It hopefully provides a little closure, and serves as a reminder to anyone else who have experienced such loss that they aren’t alone.
Carl mentions in an article with The Big Takeover that the album has three anchor songs: “Spiral Back In Time”, “Find Me There”, and the final track “Be OK”. Where the beginning starts us off observing the strangeness of the world, and the middle has us reaching out through the chaos toward each other, the end has us back at a slower tempo, but this time more confident to face whatever troubles come our way. The song features little more than some synths, guitars, and Carl and Katy’s voices echoing through the cosmos. But it makes for an incredible and effective ending to the record, as “World Keeps Spinning” was for Ticking Haze. The Manns certainly know how to sequence an album.
Under the Rainbow was one of my most-anticipated albums for 2026, and though I tried to have no lofty expectations, I’m certainly delighted with the result. It’s everything I enjoyed about Ticking Haze and more, with Carl and Katy injecting a bit of shoegaze and darker sounds into their usual brightness. They don’t just hit every hue of the rainbow here: They include every shade and saturation, including poetic greys and splashing bits of pure white light and black shadows where they feel necessary. The finished work: A wonderful painting showing two musicians acting as one solid music-making unit, reaching new heights in their creativity.
Take a listen to Under the Rainbow below.
Written by Will Sisskind
