The Tubs Hard Life
Released Sep 11, 2026 Merge Records
Established consensus 5 professional reviews Updated Oct 18, 2026
Broadly positive consensus
The Tubs' Hard Life turns romantic wreckage and self-directed anger into bright, bracing indie rock, earning a strong 79.4/100 consensus score across five professional reviews.
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
Who's Gonna Love You Now?
3 critic mentions
“Like all of The Tubs’ best work, a beautiful jangle-pop instrumental suggests an air of romance that is promptly flattened by lyrical realism.” — The Skinny
Do Yourself a Favor
2 critic mentions
“though the four-piece never take themselves too seriously – following the downbeat number with a cover of Prince’s Do Yourself a Favor.” — The Skinny
Didn't I Say?
2 critic mentions
“none less so than Williams singing to a heartbroken friend facing the prospect of being single in his 30s on Didn’t I Say?” — The Skinny
Full critic consensus
The Tubs' Hard Life turns romantic wreckage and self-directed anger into bright, bracing indie rock, earning a strong 79.4/100 consensus score across five professional reviews. Critics agree that its appeal lies in the friction between chiming, often exhilarating guitars and lyrics steeped in heartbreak, anxiety, and wry self-exposure. The songs draw on jangle pop and post-punk traditions, but their sharp observations of failed relationships and modern London life give the record a distinctly personal voice.
Several of the best songs on Hard Life sharpen that contrast. “Who’s Gonna Love You Now?” drew the widest praise, with reviewers admiring its sparkling guitar work and cantankerous, painfully relatable perspective. “Heaven or London” turns mordant detail into a rush, while “If You Don’t Love Me” distills the album’s romantic fatalism into a cutting moment. Critics also singled out “Do Yourself a Favor” for its new-wave lift, and “Now and Then” for the added color of fiddle and vocals. Together, these highlights make the album’s bruised outlook feel vivid rather than one-note.
The critical consensus is notably positive, though the record’s humor rarely softens its bleakness: its rueful voice can feel beaten down even as the arrangements surge. Reviewers describe a band refining its songwriting, balancing black comedy and candor with hooks that make the emotional barbs land harder. For anyone asking whether Hard Life is worth hearing, the reviews point to a thoughtful, sharply crafted collection whose best tracks turn frustration into exhilaration. The full reviews below explore how The Tubs make that uneasy balance their defining strength.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Hard Life
Who's Gonna Love You Now?
If You Don't Love Me
Stoop to Me
Heaven or London
Didn't I Say?
Do Yourself a Favor
Now and Then
The Way It Goes
Hell
In Your Place
As Long as You Leave
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 5 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
The Tubs have picked up where they left off on Hard Life, fusing upbeat backings with honest musings about modern London living. The best songs on Hard Life include “Who’s Gonna Love You Now?”, where a beautiful jangle-pop instrumental suggests an air of romance that is promptly flattened by lyrical realism, and “Didn’t I Say?”, an emotional moment addressed to a heartbroken friend. The four-piece never take themselves too seriously, following the downbeat number with “Do Yourself a Favor”; “Stoop to Me” and “Heaven or London” also make the best tracks list.
Key Points
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“Who’s Gonna Love You Now?” stands out for pairing romantic jangle-pop with lyrical realism.
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The album’s core strength is its fusion of upbeat backings with honest musings about modern London living.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Tubs sound like a band finally arriving at a singular voice on Hard Life, and the best songs on Hard Life underline that. The lead single “Who’s Gonna Love You Now?” is described as jangle pop perfection, its chiming guitars balancing Williams’ cantankerous yet oddly relatable lyric. The folk-tinged “Stoop To Me” and the gorgeous “Now and Then” show how fiddle and additional vocals lift the record, while quieter moments like “Didn’t I Say?” drip with sadness and cynicism. Taken together, these tracks make the album feel like Owen Williams’ strongest songwriting to date, the kind of best tracks on Hard Life that reward repeated listening.
Key Points
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The jangly lead single “Who’s Gonna Love You Now?” is the album’s standout due to its chiming guitars and memorable lyric.
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The album’s core strengths are mature songwriting, successful fusion of jangle, folk and college rock, and strong complementary performances.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Tubs continue to specialise in bright, hooky melodies and blackly comic self-exposure on Hard Life, where the best songs - notably “If You Don't Love Me” and “Heaven or London” - pair brutally candid lyrics with plangent, Peter Buck-like guitar figures. Petridis revels in the record's old-school indie rock DNA, praising the way distorted guitars and trebly 12-string lines make tracks such as “In Your Place” feel both yearning and immediate. The result is a moving, funny, immensely powerful album that finds Williams alternately laying bare his anxieties and amplifying them for comic effect, which makes the best tracks on Hard Life land all the harder.
Key Points
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The best song is driven by sharp, Peter Buck-like guitar figures and candid lyrics, making “If You Don't Love Me” the standout.
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The album’s core strengths are its bright, hooky melodies, vivid self-scrutinising lyrics, and live-in-the-studio energy.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Tubs sound like a band that turns fury into craft on Hard Life, and the review reads that way too, sparing none of the album’s barbs. Steve Erickson singles out “Who’s Gonna Love You Now?” as a scathing, specific attack and points to the title track “Hard Life” as an admission of artistic fear, which together explain the best songs on Hard Life. He praises the rush on “Heaven or London” and “Now and Then” for turning being pissed off into exhilaration, making them among the best tracks on Hard Life. The voice here is analytical but impatient, noting both the band’s pop sense and its taste for snarling storytelling.
Key Points
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The best song is emotionally vivid and raw because it channels personal fury into precise storytelling.
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The album’s core strengths are its jangly post-punk textures, pop sensibility, and knack for angry yet exhilarating songs.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Tubs make an album of survival on Hard Life, and the review locks on the best tracks with a kind of rueful grin. The reviewer lifts out “Do Yourself a Favor” as the album's sole moment of unalloyed rapture, praising its new-wave strut and chipmunked choruses. He also lingers on “Heaven or London” for its mordant comic detail and on “If You Don’t Love Me” for a succinct, cutting line that crystallizes the record's fatalism. The narrative voice stays wry and slightly beaten, making clear which songs are the best tracks on Hard Life by how they puncture and, briefly, uplift the album's melancholic logic.
Key Points
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“Do Yourself a Favor” is the album's standout for its ecstatic new-wave strut and chipmunked choruses.
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Hard Life's core strength is its survivalist fatalism delivered with mordant humor and jangly indie-pop craft.