Irish alt-rock bruisers THUMPER return with their second album, Sleeping With The Light On, fronted by the impact single “Gang Signs” and capped by their biggest headline show yet at The Academy, Dublin, on 4 March 2026. The release marks another step up for a band that has spent the last few years turning hard miles into hard noise.

From small hometown rooms to packed festival fields, THUMPER’s rise has been built on relentless touring. They have become familiar faces at major Irish festivals including Electric Picnic, All Together Now, Indiependence and Other Voices, while also staking out territory across Europe. Appearances at Mad Cool in Spain, Reading & Leeds in the UK, Iceland Airwaves, Haldern Pop in Germany, Rock For People in the Czech Republic and Eurosonic in the Netherlands have placed them firmly on the continental circuit.

Radio and television have kept pace with the live push. Airplay has arrived via BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, Radio X, KEXP, Kink and Kerrang!, alongside strong support from Irish stations such as RTÉ Radio 1, 2FM, Today FM and Beat 102–103. Television slots on RTÉ’s The Tommy Tiernan Show and Other Voices have widened their reach, while playlist support and cover placements on Spotify and Apple Music have helped carry the songs beyond the pit and into the mainstream feed.

Sleeping With The Light On follows the debut album Delusions of Grandeur and reflects a clear shift in method. Written during the pandemic, the material turns away from long, hypnotic stretches towards tighter, more direct structures. Each song is shaped to stand on its own, without leaning on volume or stage chaos to make the point. The result is a sharper, leaner record, built for impact rather than sprawl.

Lyrically, the album also moves inward. The earlier tongue-in-cheek tone gives way to something more direct and exposed, with songs shaped by isolation and pressure. Several tracks began life outside the band before being absorbed into the group’s sound, reinforcing the sense of collective problem-solving at the heart of the record.

One track breaks the pattern. “Middle Management” runs to ten minutes, stretching against the rest of the album’s shorter cuts and introducing synth and piano from co-producer Rian Trench, the first outside contribution to a THUMPER recording.

Recorded in a converted house in County Donegal and completed in Dublin, the album stands as a document of a band tightening its grip on its own sound. With a new record in hand and their largest Dublin show ahead, THUMPER move into this chapter louder, leaner and more focused than before.