Haircut 100 reconnect with the spark that made them one of the brightest bands of the early '80s on Boxing The Compass, their first album with the original lineup in four decades.
Haircut 100’s Boxing The Compass arrives with the kind of backstory that few albums can match. More than four decades after the classic lineup last recorded together, the band returns with a collection that sounds like six musicians reconnecting with the spark that brought them together in the first place. It marks the first album from the original Nick Heyward-fronted lineup since 1982’s Pelican West, closing one of pop music’s longest gaps between chapters.
The title itself offers a clue to the album’s purpose. “Boxing the compass” is an old navigational term, and Heyward has described the record as a way of charting where the band has been during the 43 years since they first set sail together. Rather than presenting a snapshot of youth frozen in time, the songs reflect a group of musicians bringing decades of experience, detours, and discoveries back into a shared creative space.
What makes Boxing The Compass particularly appealing is that Haircut 100 still sound like Haircut 100. The band's trademark blend of pop hooks, jazz-funk rhythms, bright guitars, and effortless charm remains intact, but it's now colored by influences gathered over a lifetime. The reunion that began with old friends reconnecting gradually evolved into writing sessions with producer Sean Read, revealing that the chemistry responsible for "Love Plus One," "Fantastic Day," and "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" hadn't disappeared after all.
Tracks such as "The Unloving Plum" and "Dynamite" showcase that familiar sense of melodic exuberance, while songs including "Vanishing Point," "Someone," and "Sunshine" suggest a band looking forward rather than backward. Across its ten tracks, Boxing The Compass balances the buoyancy that first made Haircut 100 a sensation with the perspective that only time can provide.
For a band whose original story burned brightly but briefly, Boxing The Compass feels like an unexpected gift. It captures musicians rediscovering not only each other, but also the joy of creating together. Forty-plus years later, Haircut 100 haven't returned to where they started. They've returned with a few more miles on the map and a lot more stories to tell.