As well as 'Aux Romanticiser', the album features the previously released singles 'Space In The Cab' and 'Ursula'
By Emma Wilkes 21st January 2026
The Itch. Credit: The Itch
The Itch have announced their debut album ‘It’s The Hope That Kills You’ and released a zany new single ‘Aux Romanticiser’.
- READ MORE: Dance-punks The Itch are creating their own party paradise
The Luton dance-punks’ debut record will be released on April 10 via Fiction/ I Oh You – you can pre-order it here. Its tracklist also contains the previously released singles ‘Space In The Cab’ and their first ever release, ‘Ursula’.
Advertisement‘Aux Romanticiser’ samples the viral webseries Subway Takes and Pearson Sound’s ‘WAD’ and finds vocalist Simon Tyrie singing about becoming an amateur DJ with an AUX cable – “Let’s get it started/You don’t even know how to cross-fade/Just stick it in your phone and play some Beyoncé.”
The accompanying lo-fi music video finds a group of people debating whether DJs are needed anymore before the song begins, with visuals displaying people having a hedonistic night in the club.
The tracklist for ‘The Hope That Kills you’ is:
1. ‘Space In The Cab’ 2. ‘No More Sprechgesang!’ 3. ‘Can’t Afford This’ 4. ‘Pirate Studios’ 5. ‘Drugdealer’ 6. ‘Radio Frequencies’ 7. ‘It’s The Hope That Kills You’ 8. ‘Aux Romanticiser’ 9. ‘Ursula’ 10. ‘Never Change’ 11. ‘Switch It Off’
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The duo were NME‘s The Cover stars back in September, during which Tyrie explained: “What we’re trying to do with The Itch is to play fun nights that don’t feel like the industry’s got their hands all over them.”
His bandmate Georgia Hardy added: “When you’re outside of the music industry, you think everyone inside it knows what they’re doing and there are rules you have to abide by – you have to play this show and get on that playlist.
“But when you work in it, you know it’s all bullshit and everyone is winging it, so that gave me so much more confidence to be like, ‘The most important thing is the music and the creativity around it.’ “I mean, our booking agent hates us, but we just don’t want to do those traditional tours because there’s no benefit to it.”
Check out the band’s live dates below.
AdvertisementJANUARY 28 – St Moritz Club, Soho, London, UK
MARCH 10 – Les Inrocks with Stereolab and Elias Rønnenfelt, Paris, France
MAY 13-16 – Great Escape Festival, Brighton, UK 23 – Dot to Dot Festival, Bristol, UK 24 – Dot to Dot Festival, Nottingham, UK
JULY 3-5 – Wilde Weide Festival, Kraggenburg, Netherlands
