Pocket Lint - Wunderkammer (2026) Hi-Res

Mark James Heffernan has heard all your comparisons before – The Human League, Soft Cell, Heaven 17, Tears For Fears. He’s heard them all before. And you know what? He bloody LOVES it, even if the Depeche Mode references leave him somewhat perplexed, not that he’s unhappy about that either.

Heffernan’s voice – at least his singing voice anyway – is undeniably most closely affiliated with Phil Oakey though, so on Wunderkammer‘s opener ‘From A Distant Land‘ he can’t really expect not to be likened to something off, say, Reproduction or Travelogue.

‘Amethyst Cameo‘ as I mentioned when we made it a Track Of The Week recently, is poppier, with a spoken segment that added Jarvis Cocker to that string of reference points, and this is where you realise that Heffernan has created a concept album of sorts, its accompanying insert not a lyric sheet but instead a ‘List Of Exhibits’ which reveal that a ‘Cyanometer‘ (an otherworldly sounding track here) was a device used to measure a person’s ‘blue’. There may be a bit of tongue in cheek information here, suggesting that Picasso tested it (because of his ‘blue period’) and that Howlin’ Wolf, the famous blues musician, was offered the chance to do so. I think Mark may have been a little mischievous here myself!

That further playfulness continues into ‘Clockwork Boy‘ which took me a little by surprise, given that it seems to combine early David Bowie with a German drinking song, with a little Terry Hall sprinkled on top for good measure. Then you have the big-eyed beauty of ‘Odin’s Eyes‘ (which are a set of small Venetian marbles) – it’s fair to say that Heffernan is in awe of art, and particularly those that fit the ‘curio’ mould, and his deep appreciation for these rare and interesting pieces of memorabilia is emotionally palpable in many of these compositions, not least the piano-based instrumental ‘Butterfly Collection‘ (a ‘cruelty free’ version, no less, as this particular exhibit was ostensibly just a collection of notebooks that appear to be the work of a child, that innocence reflected in this charming melody).

Perhaps best of all is ‘Nyx?’ which refers to an ancient Greek statuette that was originally attributed to Aphrodite but which has been disputed and believed now to have been the titular Goddess. This is where Pocket Lint goes all Vangelis on us, but delivers the gorgeous sounding chorus of “You may be the bringer of night / draped in a flowing black gown.” This would definitely make my ‘Top Ten Best Tracks Of 2026’ if burning CD compilations were still a possibility to me.

‘(A Cartography Of) Desire Paths‘ is almost as good and kind of flitters between ominous darkness and absolute joy, before descending into what sounds like insanity and eventually an acceptance of the self.

‘Fernery‘ sounds like something that could have been on The Special AKA‘s In The Studio album from 1984, and ‘Heartbreak’s First Teardrop‘ tenderly imagines – whilst knowingly borrowing the “hillside desolate” segment from ‘This Charming Man‘ – the story of where the lacrimal secretion in a decorative crystal phial came from, believed to be dated from Victorian times and acquired from the estate of the artist Sebastian Horsely after his death.

Finally on ‘Punishing Moonlight‘, Heffernan delivers the brutally stark realisation – in spoken word – that “as I staggered back, out into the punishing moonlight, lit by cold, distant stars, I realised these wonders were nothing more than a carnival hall of mirrors, and the objects that they held…were just…reflections…of me.“

That was a real “Whoa!” moment for me, and it made me appreciate that, sure, every one of those formerly mentioned artists can be heard at any given time while you’re listening to Wunderkammer, but pigeonhole Mark James Heffernan at your peril – for this really is a work of art in its own right and is a remarkable release by an ever increasingly interesting musician.