Ancient Lights: Reclamation – Album Review

Ancient Lights: Reclamation

(Grow Your Own)

LP | CD | DL

Out 13 Feb 2026

Ancient Lights deliver a clever ranting treatise against nationalism, exploring the culture and history of these islands to a punky mix of folk, post-punk and death rock. Nathan Brown says it is both innovative yet instantly familiar.

Across this album, Ancient Lights simultaneously celebrate and dismantle popular history and myths surrounding this clump of islands off the west of Europe. It’s highly relevant to the way myths are abused by nationalists and the historically illiterate to justify hatred against “immigrants” or denigrate modern life. Ancient Lights take a look at the ancestors who roamed these islands, revealing the complex mishmash, not the “pure Anglo Saxon” that flagshaggers seem to think they are.

Dismantling the myths of the halcyon “good old days” of existence in “olden times” before modern life, it turns out they were not so good after all. They repeatedly take down “national pride”.  The actual “national” stuff people should be proud of and fighting for – you know, water and that health service – are stolen and destroyed by the money men. Self declared “Patriots” always seem to be quiet about this. Of course, it is capitalism at play that is destroying the mythical green and pleasant land, and driving living standards down, nothing to do with foreigners. The conclusion, aside from capitalism being a root problem and notions of Nationhood making it worse, is that as human beings we can transcend these man-made boundaries.

Somehow managing to sound innovative yet familiar at the same time, this album is a ranting treatise embedded in the culture and history of these islands. Enjoyable and on the nose but not preachy. Musically, Ancient Lights are a touch avant garde – they keep you guessing and are full of bouncy energy. The drums and full sounding bass drive things along. They fuse folk, post-punk and death rock sounds with an outraged sarcastic punk rock vocal delivery and a little verbal gymnastics. Their technical musicianship is evident with changes of tempo and atmosphere aplenty.

As the needle hits the record, a barely audible drone heralds gentle acoustic guitar strumming and picking that gives off an Olde England folk feel. This gives way to the gem that is Bones of Britain. It’s jerky, punky, cheeky and exuberant in the way of bands like Eastfield and Bus Station Loonies. The vocals are at once sarcastic yet sounding incredulous, the chorus borrows the “heads, shoulder knees and toes” nursery rhyme and the song turns into an almost monastic sounding dirge before switching back again. The overall effect is reminiscent of both Cardiacs and Cravats. Like a potted history of Britain, archaeology and folk memory combine. A run through of the different peoples who have lived in these islands, and whose bones you will find, provides a light hearted piss take of the nationalists identified as hatemongers in the song.

Looking at people who blame their lot in life on some imaginary “other”, Paragons of Virtue is a wavering quirky sing song with the vocals following the melody and enunciated to the fullest extent. Death Rock and post punk mash-up so think Rudimentary Peni, Cross Stitched Eyes and Killing Joke with added haunted fairground provided by the sinister keyboard break in the middle.

Another tune that reminds me of Cardiacs with some neat little hooks, Pastoral Delusions harks back to Olde England and pagan festivals: “This all used to be fields…There was much Merry making”. However, it counters this with malnutrition and death from disease that was the reality for many in the “good old days” (A perfect riposte to those cretins in online chat groups who harp on “Oh, it was great back in those days”. No it fucking wasn’t.)

“A spluttered out consumptive cough
Syphilitic pustules
We often dined on rounds of rye
Riven with Ergot spores

We often died at forty-two
In the world before, the new
Malnutrition, infected sores
In the bilge of open sewers”

Finishing with a clip of Morris dancing is the humourous icing on the cake.

Noontide is a gentle instrumental that weaves like the wind in the trees. Picked guitar and keyboards are backed up with an almost medieval sound from the drums and bass, with a touch of Californian psychedelia sneaking through.

Reclamation is another take down of “national pride” to comedic effect, roaring with incredulity and sarcasm. Boisterous and outraged there is some wonderful worldplay. The rhythmic and noisy post-punk attack based around the driving bass sound will appeal to fans of NoMeansNo and The Ex.

The frustrations of trying to argue with the whataboutery and straw man arguments of hate filled nationalists courses out of Peace By Any Means. It’s angular, jerky and angry but then the choruses are almost like a sea shanty. By the end it is veering into industrial territory.

A tribute to the mythical Woodwose starts with flowing guitars and monastic style chanting of the lyrics. However, it soon rises up into a rhythmic Killing Joke dischordance with big drums and the guitar washing over everything. It actually sounds like a Woodwose to me. I hear there is still one roaming Puddletown Forest.

National Water (Chemical Peel) leans into the Rudimentary Peni sound with a rhythmic and driving tune combining with a demonic sounding vocal full of clipped pronunciation. The bass line really carries the song, backed up with busy drums. As the title suggests, it is more outrage at the theft and mismanagement of our commons by “Captains of industry”.

Circled A is a diatribe of intelligent critique at those who have yielded to the right. While such people circle the drain, Ancient Lights are still circling their A. Jerky guitar with lively bass and frantic drums gives a very post-punk and avante garde approach, Cravats meets No Means No. As the song concludes it gets noisy a bit like Crass on Yes Sir I Will or Flux Of Pink Indians when they experimented with noise. “Profit, profit, profit, profit, profit, profit.. at yours and my expense”. No, it’s not a new message but it is accurate and relevant.

Nationalists are back in the metaphorical firing line for Cosplay Autocrats. The angular style and chorus on the guitar has me thinking of Gang Of Four as anger and contempt is directed at “flagshagging, migrant hating” small men.

Co-operation has a slow dirgey intro, set to a marching snare, before the circus invite of “roll up roll up”. A post-punk soundtrack with eastern sounding guitar work provides the backing for a ranting rhythmic delivery analysing the causes of problems in this world/life/capitalism. Bosses want to “Spend less, get more. Wages low, conditions poor”. However there are solutions “There is a defence against the rich. Organise, protest, resist.”

Venus’s Girdle comes in two parts. An acoustic guitar, keyboard, what sounds like theremin and banjo. It’s instrumental bar a sample that sounds like it will be the end of the album…but there’s more: a spoken word piece accurately describes the world right now, a divided world, However, it hints at the solution right before our eyes – we are one worldwide people. The nationalists want to hide this. Recognition of the rights of all people ends badly for their rich backers who have stolen everything away. Just as it started, the album ends on a drone, playing into the run out.

Myths and folklore permeate this album tempered with history and facts. The songs are full of wit, irony, sarcasm and intelligence. This would probably be lost on the people who really need to hear it, whose vocabulary doesn’t extend beyond “Stop The boats” (how do you think your ancestors got here?) and “We want are (sic) country back”. The humour is in the sarcastic tradition of the Dead Kennedys and the outrage is in the tradition of Crass. It’s like hearing an archaeological and historical analysis of the fallacies of Little Englander nationalism put through a punk lens while munching on a handful of magic mushrooms. Another great album for 2026 with an important message. Another great album from Grow Your Own.

Available from Grow Your Own with Crass style poster cover for the vinyl edition and all manner of extras.

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All words by Nathan Brown. You can read more from Nathan on his Louder Than War archive over here.