Melbourne’s post-punk breakout Radio Free Alice have officially planted their flag on Atlantic Records, and they’re doing it the only way they know how — loud, jangly, and with a wink. The band’s first offering of 2026, “Lunch Money,” landed today alongside an official video directed by Pema Baldwin, and it’s exactly the kind of tightly-wound, melodically restless track that’s been earning them comparisons to Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks for the last two years.

Written during a soundcheck at an empty Nottingham venue on the tail end of last year’s UK tour — “all with jackets, scarves and gloves on,” according to frontman Noah Learmonth — “Lunch Money” moves with the kind of instinctive urgency that suggests the band barely had time to overthink it. Punchy melodic hooks, jangly guitars, a bass line that refuses to sit still, and Learmonth’s rough-hewn, throaty delivery riding shotgun. It’s the sound of a band that’s found its lane and is comfortably flooring it.

Stream “Lunch Money” here: https://open.spotify.com/search/Radio%20Free%20Alice

The video, meanwhile, sees the Melbourne four-piece trying New York City on for size — wandering through the wall-to-wall clutter of tourist gift shops, sitting quietly on fire escapes, doing the classic “band loose in the big city” routine with enough charm to make it feel fresh. Fitting, considering they’ll be premiering the track live tomorrow at Governors Ball in NYC, followed by a sold-out aftershow at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn.

From there, the schedule gets genuinely absurd in the best possible way. Sixteen festival appearances across Europe and the UK are locked in for the summer, including Rock For People, Best Kept Secret, TRNSMT, Rock Werchter, Main Square, Tramlines, Truck, Boardmasters, Way Out West, Frequency, and a headline-adjacent slot at Reading Festival to close things out on August 29. If you’re on that continent this summer, odds are Radio Free Alice will be within driving distance of you at some point.

The single arrives on the heels of a genuinely wild twelve months for the band — their Empty Words EP, the Stereogum-approved breakout “Rule 31,” a BBC 6 Music live session, sold-out New York and London runs, a Shaky Knees debut, and opening slots for Geese across Australia. Now, with Atlantic in their corner and their debut full-length in the works alongside producers Ewan Pearson (Depeche Mode, M83, Foals) and Peter Katis (Interpol, The National), the ceiling keeps rising.

Catch them on a festival stage this summer, stream “Lunch Money” now, and start clearing space on your 2026 rotation — this one’s not slowing down anytime soon.