Vegas Water Taxi - long time caller, first time listener

Acting as a vehicle for singer Ben Hambro to keep a "tragi-comic diary of [his] personal failings", Vegas Water Taxi's new album 'long time caller, first time listener' stays true to the band's 2023 debut 'things are gonna be alright', alternating between feeling deeply personal and incredibly funny.

Taking a long, exhausted look at the morass of living in London in your late 20s, Ben paints satirical pictures of the stereotypical Hackney couple on 'Birkenstocks': "A cocaine queen / from the oat milk scene" and "A post-punk man / from the post-punk band". Elsewhere on 'chateau photo', he reflects on his own (possibly fictional) love life, singing of how his ex's new PR professional boyfriend is letting the world know that he's crying into his pint.

If all of this sounds familiar to Vegas Water Taxi fans, that's because it is – the album is two EPs stitched together, with 2025's 'long time caller' being paired with new release 'first time listener'. Not that you'd notice if you didn't already know, with both releases knitting perfectly together into one big picture of hilariously painted metropolitan listlessness.

Of the new tracks, 'jamie xx' stands out as a particular highlight, seeing the band shifting away from their Americana roots into something a bit more universal, with just a hint of a country twang. Lyrically, the scope is broadened, too. Not everyone has direct experience of living in London in your twenties, but surely we all know the feeling of boring our partner senseless by talking about our job (no, just us? – Ed).

This is an album which is as much a vehicle for the whip-smart lyrics as it is a musical project, and for those not plugged into the East London scene that Hambro effortlessly skewers, mileage may vary on that front. Luckily, Vegas Water Taxi don't lack in the catchy melody department either, and there's enough joy to be had in the alt-country-meets-indie instrumentals that it should hold up, even if your ex-girlfriend has never shacked up with someone who works in a creative marketing agency in Dalston.