Vincent Davies, known for his work with Hidden Charms and YAK, announces his debut solo album Vindication, set for release on 15 November 2026 via Stray Music. The ten-track album represents the culmination of more than a decade of musical exploration for the London-born singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, bringing together the many different chapters of his career into a record that is distinctly his own.
Vincent Davies
Recorded between September 2025 and February 2026 at SJF Studios in Hackney, London, Vindication was produced by Davies alongside his former Hidden Charms bandmate and longtime friend Joshua Woolf. The collaboration has proved central to Davies finally completing a solo record after years of working towards the milestone across different projects, producers and studios.
Davies describes the album as the result of a creative process that began to properly take shape through his work with Woolf, with the pair first recording and releasing eight songs between November 2024 and December 2025. Those early releases became the foundation for what would eventually develop into Vindication.
The album’s title carries a double meaning. It reflects Davies’ determination to complete a project that has remained an elusive ambition throughout his career, while also functioning as a playful nod to his own name, Vincent. For Davies, that duality captures something fundamental about being an artist: the ability to take both the struggles and the absurdities of the creative process seriously while still finding humour within them. The record is the latest chapter in a career that has consistently resisted easy categorisation.
Davies first established his musical identity in London’s club scene, particularly through appearances at Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues and the Easycome Acoustic Club. Those early experiences helped shape a fascination with British songwriting alongside a love of garage rock’s raw energy, while developing an instinct for combining different musical traditions rather than remaining tied to a single genre.
That approach became increasingly visible with Hidden Charms, which Davies was part of between 2013 and 2017. Following the band’s early shows, they travelled to Los Angeles to record at Sound City Studios before working with legendary producer Shel Talmy, whose production credits include The Who and The Kinks.
Vincent Davies
The band’s sound evolved considerably during this period, developing beyond its garage-rock foundations to incorporate R&B and mod influences before becoming darker, heavier and more visceral. That evolution eventually took Hidden Charms to Liam Watson’s Toe Rag Studios in London, the studio famously used by The White Stripes to record Elephant.
The period also brought profound personal loss. In 2016, the death of the band’s friend and manager Craig Tarry had a deep impact on Davies and the wider Hidden Charms family. The band subsequently came to an end, opening another chapter in Davies’ musical journey.
Davies then joined YAK, spending three years with the band and contributing to their second album Pursuit of Momentary Happiness. The experience took him across Europe and the United States, with performances at venues including Bataclan, Ancienne Belgique and Paradiso, while the band also recorded an EP at Third Man Studios, the label and studio founded by Jack White.
When the pandemic brought live music to a standstill, Davies once again turned towards reinvention rather than simply looking backwards. He became increasingly involved in London’s changing underground music scene, working with Brixton producer Big Bubbs and exploring the energy of UK Drill. He also returned to punk through The Magdalanes, while continuing to develop his own songwriting.
That broad range of experiences now feeds directly into Vindication. Garage rock, soul, folk, reggae, British pop-inspired harmonies and punk energy all form part of Davies’ musical vocabulary, but rather than functioning simply as a collection of influences, they have been absorbed into a sound that reflects his own experiences and musical instincts.
The first songs released from the project — Heavenly Soul, I Started a Fire, No Cure for a Narcissist, Blind Leading the Blind and They Will Never Conquer Us — have already provided glimpses of that direction. Together, they point towards an artist stepping beyond the confines of his previous bands and embracing the freedom of a solo project.
Vincent Davies
For Davies, the significance of Vindication lies not simply in finally releasing a debut album under his own name, but in the fact that the record brings together the various musical lives he has experienced along the way. From London’s clubs and the raw energy of Hidden Charms, through international touring with YAK, studio experimentation and years of songwriting, each chapter has contributed something to the record.
After more than a decade of searching, Vindication arrives as the point where those paths finally converge — a debut solo statement shaped by everything that came before it, while opening the door to whatever comes next. Vindication is released on 15 November 2026 via Stray Music and will be available on vinyl and digital platforms. Pre-order here.
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