The debut album ‘Almost Nearly There’

Out 16th May 2026

Almost Nearly There kicks off with the band’s debut single, Bored, an Ultrasound/Kings of Leon-tinged song about being frustrated at the way the world is going – prejudices against the colour of someone’s skin and who someone chooses to love or be loved by, the hypocrisy of religions and our world leaders – before What If? asks: what if we could do things a different way and keep the same innocence and acceptance that we have as children? After that we get the funked-up Lady of the Night which was inspired by a sex worker that Joe used to see seven days a week on his early morning delivery shift, the epic, prog-pop infused Critical Mass, and the bluesy Lay It On Me – about the exuberance of youth and losing your virginity to someone who is far more experienced than you – before an extraordinarily beautiful Oasis-like ballad called In Too Deep tugs at your heartstrings. Finally, we get Nearly – a song about Joe’s long-term attempts to keep his head above water financially, and a story song about the passage of time in a man’s life – which comes across as the bastard child of Roxy Music’s Virginia Plain, and Low Winter Sun, a reflection on the long and winding road that’s led to Refuge’s point in the musical universe.