Gene Madoc - Revelation's Dog (2026) Hi-Res

Cardiff, UK. The opening and title track to the new album by Cardiff-based Gene Madoc is spellbinding and sublime. Revelation’s Dog tangos between psychedelia and folk, tight movements and vulnerable, searching vocals framed by a pared-down arrangement. The latter is paired with production that is so clean and fresh, so vivid and stylish, that you’ll believe you can hear Madoc’s heart break.

Madoc looks outside music for inspiration, naming Kafka and Murakami as influences, which does give us an insight into the existential quandary and unanswered questioning that is a constant presence in the lyrics.

Madoc transubstantiates the words into a higher art, one fit for expressing in the style of a dark troubadour sitting at the edge of the world, looking in, puzzled by what he sees and feels, and looking for answers.

Madoc says of his debut album, “There’s a lot of emphasis on self-help and commoditised revelation in the present culture, so I found myself exploring that on this album and taking aim at the trappings of it. How circular and, if one isn’t careful, how indoctrinating a lot of it can be.”

“Most of the songs were written while sat in the window seen in the album artwork between October 2024 and May 2025, then recorded in two 14-hour studio sessions at the end of last year.

“I was intent on shunning heavy production, and, being influenced by the directness of folk-revival records, I wanted to record this LP live over the course of two 14-hour sessions to preserve a lyrical emphasis and achieve a raw spontaneity. Not wanting anywhere to hide behind production adornments, I sought the sort of intensity that limited time and takes help to bring about.”