Cartel - Learning How to Cope (2026) Hi-Res

A parade of iconic pop-punk and emo bands recently released comeback albums. Legends like Yellowcard and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus rediscovered the their magic. Good Charlotte fell far short of the mark. New Found Glory’s new album had its moments. Ditto for the All American Rejects releases.

Yet, Cartel’s Learning How To Cope, out tomorrow via Field Day Records, would win comeback album of the year at the fictional pop-punkies. Just picture frontman Will Pugh, thanking the academy (Is?) along with drummer Atom Willard, who absolutely crushes the kit throughout the album.

Let’s start with what Learning How to Cope is not. There is little experimentation, or any attempt to stray from what makes Cartel, well, Cartel. The band aren’t trying to channel their inner MGK, like Sum 41’s “Dopamine.” They aren’t hoping for an overly produced, hyper-digital crossover pop hit.

Learning How To Cope, Cartel’s first album in 13 years, tells both the band’s and its fans’ story. The album spins a tale of one’s quest to growth, humility and self-understanding.

You can tell so many of these songs just came to Pugh. They all flow without hinder; the lyrics feel personal, placed purposefully with each melody. Take “Inside Out,” the first track Pugh wrote for the album. The lyrics are perfectly partnered with the varying melodies and no line feels out of place.

Learning How To Cope, out on Field Day Records, is also a story about a complicated and often depressing outside world. “Shirts & Skins” made the rounds on Bandcamp as ICE agents flooded the streets of Minnesota. It’s a spitting attack on any and all aggressive and violent government forces, as the line “this is not a tragedy, it’s criminal activity” lands a right hook to the chin of authoritarianism.

A parade of iconic pop-punk and emo bands recently released comeback albums. Legends like Yellowcard and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus rediscovered the their magic. Good Charlotte fell far short of the mark. New Found Glory’s new album had its moments. Ditto for the All American Rejects releases.

Yet, Cartel’s Learning How To Cope, out tomorrow via Field Day Records, would win comeback album of the year at the fictional pop-punkies. Just picture frontman Will Pugh, thanking the academy (Is?) along with drummer Atom Willard, who absolutely crushes the kit throughout the album.

Let’s start with what Learning How to Cope is not. There is little experimentation, or any attempt to stray from what makes Cartel, well, Cartel. The band aren’t trying to channel their inner MGK, like Sum 41’s “Dopamine.” They aren’t hoping for an overly produced, hyper-digital crossover pop hit.

Learning How To Cope, Cartel’s first album in 13 years, tells both the band’s and its fans’ story. The album spins a tale of one’s quest to growth, humility and self-understanding.

You can tell so many of these songs just came to Pugh. They all flow without hinder; the lyrics feel personal, placed purposefully with each melody. Take “Inside Out,” the first track Pugh wrote for the album. The lyrics are perfectly partnered with the varying melodies and no line feels out of place.

Learning How To Cope, out on Field Day Records, is also a story about a complicated and often depressing outside world. “Shirts & Skins” made the rounds on Bandcamp as ICE agents flooded the streets of Minnesota. It’s a spitting attack on any and all aggressive and violent government forces, as the line “this is not a tragedy, it’s criminal activity” lands a right hook to the chin of authoritarianism.