February Album Writing Month is a yearly event in which, as the name suggests, musicians make an entire 14-track album during the month of February. Jude Kerr's simply titled FAWM 2026 is one such document. The Bandcamp page describes it as a "(demo) album," perhaps evident by a handful of tracks having a distinctly sketch-like feel to them, but it nonetheless makes for a compelling listen as it is.
The opening track, "Staring at The Wonder," opens with some pretty chords before giving way to a stream of noise and high, ethereal synths. The overall atmosphere is tense yet alluring, and gradually shifts as lower synths and distorted speech clips flit about the mix. About halfway through begins a somewhat more congealed melodic back-and-forth segment that unfolds into a more ambient passage.
In the second spot is "Rouw Motel," which opens with a squishy rhythmic pattern under some beautiful bell-piano-synth textures, eventually becoming more steady and focused as the drums fade in. The overall feel is, strange as it feels to make such a comparison, evocative to me of some of the medical centers I found myself in as a sickly teen in the early 2010s. Up next comes "Digital Modern Age," opening with a heavy riff backed by some harsh atmospherics before dropping into a propulsive guitar pattern followed by some stellar melodic/harmonic interplay.
"It's 2AM and my WiFi cut out." starts with a spacious drum beat under a smooth sax-and-synth duet. It really feels like being without WiFi at 2AM. The following "Necromancer" opens with some tense piano and floaty pads enveloping distorted speech textures. As the track progresses, the piano fades as other synths emerge and twist around the mix. The sixth track, "Old Wagon," starts with a super heavy drum beat before pulling back under some choppy synth chords. It feels very strongly like the Lucah Born of a Dream soundtrack which is absolutely a positive in my book.
Next is "Hope Beyond These Walls," built around an ascending guitar pattern and is marked by a second half that feels like an acceleration and an increase in optimism. "Oh, Wow! I Hate It." starts with a distorted drum beat over ghostly synths before veering into a crunchy, bluesy guitar riff. This one feels like a lot of ideas are packed into the short runtime and they all work surprisingly well together. "Live your truth" is next, focused around a quick drum beat and beautiful piano line. The piano has some distortion on it that fades up and down as if the effect is, itself, an instrument. The entire vibe is very blurry and nostalgic, and provides a nice break from the tension or intensity present in many of the prior tracks.
"Dealers (FAWM)" is an emo-tinted rock track evocative of driving through endless flatlands, eventually adding in a nice choppy-yet-ethereal synth pattern. A lovely little track. "Recorder 'Ambient'" follows, a dissonant, suffocatingly-ominous collage of ghostly recorder leads and wavy synths. Afterward comes "We're Going to a Close So Why Not Have Fun" opens with a nice string pattern that gradually starts to feel more dissonant and unsettling as more synth layers come in over it...until the atmosphere is abruptly broken by an interjection of "six seven." Admittedly not something I expected to hear after the first 75% of the track but I can't deny that it's memorable.
On to the penultimate track, "I Can Hear It," which is largely based around permutations of a brief piano figure before wandering off in some interesting directions as the piece progresses. Brief, minimal, and a great break before the end. The final track is "I Shall Rot In This Car While My Body Will Give Way and Turn to Ash," which opens with a looping synth that sounds a bit like a car horn, joined by a droning synth pattern and wobbly textures fading in and out. This is another one that reminds me of video game soundtracks, though this time of Anodyne and Yume Nikki in equal measure. It's tense, unnerving, and hypnotic, a beautiful ending to this stylistically- and emotionally-broad collection of music.
Ultimately, Jude Kerr's FAWM 2026 is, despite (or perhaps because of) the unrefinement arising from the conditions under which it was created, a solid assortment of tracks. In view of the range of the music present, combined with the heart put into the project, there is probably something here for nearly anyone to enjoy.
