The Rubens
Group Therapy
Album · Indie Pop · 2026 · The Rubens · Just dropped! Listen now
“I think we’re most comfortable writing about the flaws in people,” The Rubens’ vocalist/guitarist Sam Margin tells Apple Music. “It’s not pessimistic—it’s actually meant to make people feel like they’re not alone.”
That the band’s sixth studio album is populated by characters running from their past, dealing with substance issues or navigating lost love speaks to one of the group’s key ambitions while making the record: capturing authenticity. It impacted the recording itself, with the band using live drums instead of samples and focusing more on the guitars that characterized their earlier work as opposed to the synth-indebted sounds of 2024 predecessor SODA.
Not that the album is without its stylistic leaps—at one point The Rubens even considered making two records, the first a “folky kind of country album,” the other “rocky-slash-R&B.” Ultimately, they decided to combine the best moments of each, arriving at Group Therapy. Here, Sam and his keyboard-playing brother Elliott talk through the album track by track.
“Love Me America”
Sam Margin: “It’s a love song to a time more than a country. The country happened to be America because that’s where the dream was for us, and the opportunity at that time. So it’s more of a love song to a really exciting moment for us.”
“Are You Getting High”
Elliott Margin: “It’s about the ending of a relationship, and then the acceptance of it. When you see the other person with someone else and you’re like, ‘OK, they’re happy,’ and trying to feel happy for them. I’m not happy, but hopefully one day I will be.”
“Hotel Hotel”
EM: “A lot of our ideas feel like scenes from a movie. This one for me felt like constantly running from something. It’s like a constant chase from the beginning to the end.”
SM: “You can imagine checking into this hotel and there’s a dead body being fished out of the pool. But then it flips towards the end of the song and the chords change underneath it, and then it becomes a different vibe. It ends optimistically.”
EM: “It starts running from something, and then maybe at the end it feels like you’re running to something.”
“Every Piece of Me”
EM: “It’s someone older looking back at a relationship and maybe even a whole life lived, and nostalgia creeping in, and feeling a little bit sweet on the things that weren’t so good back then. Maybe they don’t have that person anymore, and they’re on their own and they’ve got to figure out where they’re at and who they are, and they’re looking back on a time that now they imagine was quite happy, but at the time they probably didn’t think so.”
“Close Ups”
SM: “Again, imagining a movie in my head. People I know, my personal experiences with substances or depression or anxiety, and just imagining this couple going through this together, one person maybe being worse than the other. And it all started out quite fun, and now it’s taken a darker turn. It doesn’t resolve in the song, the lyrics stay very dark in the chorus.”
“Goanna”
EM: “It’s kind of like a chaotic, everything-condensed-into-a-one-night/two-night thing, where it’s like you pick me up, I pick you up. Neither of us can be picked up by the end of it. It sounds like a happy song, but it’s kind of dark.”
“Bright Light”
EM: “I imagine grabbing someone’s hand and saying, ‘You and me together. This is fun. This is also kind of scary. Let’s run towards it or run through it. And hopefully we’ll both be standing on the other side of it.’ It’s that youthful energy where nothing really matters right now, because we don’t have a mortgage and we don’t have kids, don’t have responsibilities. We feel rich because we have two grand in our bank accounts, so grab my hand and let’s run through a brick wall.”
“No Champagne”
EM: “It’s similar to ‘Are You Getting High.’ This one is the two people toasting the end of their relationship. While it is sad for both of them, it’s kind of like, ‘OK, we’re on the same page. This is it. We’re not going to have champagne because we’re not celebrating. We’ll just tip our hat to the end of the relationship.’”
“The Cannonball”
EM: “It made me smile thinking of that cinematic moment from a movie or from a romance novel where the person sees the love of their life and the lights dim and the earth shakes, but it’s actually just happening in the pokies [slot machines] room or the TAB [betting room] of the pub. That for me is more aspirational than meeting the love of your life in the nightclub or at the horse races. There’s something beautiful and simple and Australian about it.”
“Run Son”
SM: “I wrote that one at the tail end of the last album. Sometimes songs slip through the cracks and you lose perspective as a songwriter. You start to go, ‘I don’t know if I like that anymore.’ Then you forget about it and you move on. It just takes a fresh set of ears. Kon [Kersting, co-producer] was great for that with this record, same with our manager, Greg—having that fresh set of ears and perspective on a song that you’ve lived with for too long can really change things.”
“Oh Saturday”
EM: “It feels a bit like a pick-me-up. Thematically, it’s talking to someone and hoping that they’re going to see the positive in something, or that there will be another sunrise. Or maybe even just talking to yourself. There is light on the horizon and you have to run at it. To end the record that way after so many thematically dark songs, it’s a nice way to go, ‘Cheer up, listener!’”
That the band’s sixth studio album is populated by characters running from their past, dealing with substance issues or navigating lost love speaks to one of the group’s key ambitions while making the record: capturing authenticity. It impacted the recording itself, with the band using live drums instead of samples and focusing more on the guitars that characterized their earlier work as opposed to the synth-indebted sounds of 2024 predecessor SODA.
Not that the album is without its stylistic leaps—at one point The Rubens even considered making two records, the first a “folky kind of country album,” the other “rocky-slash-R&B.” Ultimately, they decided to combine the best moments of each, arriving at Group Therapy. Here, Sam and his keyboard-playing brother Elliott talk through the album track by track.
“Love Me America”
Sam Margin: “It’s a love song to a time more than a country. The country happened to be America because that’s where the dream was for us, and the opportunity at that time. So it’s more of a love song to a really exciting moment for us.”
“Are You Getting High”
Elliott Margin: “It’s about the ending of a relationship, and then the acceptance of it. When you see the other person with someone else and you’re like, ‘OK, they’re happy,’ and trying to feel happy for them. I’m not happy, but hopefully one day I will be.”
“Hotel Hotel”
EM: “A lot of our ideas feel like scenes from a movie. This one for me felt like constantly running from something. It’s like a constant chase from the beginning to the end.”
SM: “You can imagine checking into this hotel and there’s a dead body being fished out of the pool. But then it flips towards the end of the song and the chords change underneath it, and then it becomes a different vibe. It ends optimistically.”
EM: “It starts running from something, and then maybe at the end it feels like you’re running to something.”
“Every Piece of Me”
EM: “It’s someone older looking back at a relationship and maybe even a whole life lived, and nostalgia creeping in, and feeling a little bit sweet on the things that weren’t so good back then. Maybe they don’t have that person anymore, and they’re on their own and they’ve got to figure out where they’re at and who they are, and they’re looking back on a time that now they imagine was quite happy, but at the time they probably didn’t think so.”
“Close Ups”
SM: “Again, imagining a movie in my head. People I know, my personal experiences with substances or depression or anxiety, and just imagining this couple going through this together, one person maybe being worse than the other. And it all started out quite fun, and now it’s taken a darker turn. It doesn’t resolve in the song, the lyrics stay very dark in the chorus.”
“Goanna”
EM: “It’s kind of like a chaotic, everything-condensed-into-a-one-night/two-night thing, where it’s like you pick me up, I pick you up. Neither of us can be picked up by the end of it. It sounds like a happy song, but it’s kind of dark.”
“Bright Light”
EM: “I imagine grabbing someone’s hand and saying, ‘You and me together. This is fun. This is also kind of scary. Let’s run towards it or run through it. And hopefully we’ll both be standing on the other side of it.’ It’s that youthful energy where nothing really matters right now, because we don’t have a mortgage and we don’t have kids, don’t have responsibilities. We feel rich because we have two grand in our bank accounts, so grab my hand and let’s run through a brick wall.”
“No Champagne”
EM: “It’s similar to ‘Are You Getting High.’ This one is the two people toasting the end of their relationship. While it is sad for both of them, it’s kind of like, ‘OK, we’re on the same page. This is it. We’re not going to have champagne because we’re not celebrating. We’ll just tip our hat to the end of the relationship.’”
“The Cannonball”
EM: “It made me smile thinking of that cinematic moment from a movie or from a romance novel where the person sees the love of their life and the lights dim and the earth shakes, but it’s actually just happening in the pokies [slot machines] room or the TAB [betting room] of the pub. That for me is more aspirational than meeting the love of your life in the nightclub or at the horse races. There’s something beautiful and simple and Australian about it.”
“Run Son”
SM: “I wrote that one at the tail end of the last album. Sometimes songs slip through the cracks and you lose perspective as a songwriter. You start to go, ‘I don’t know if I like that anymore.’ Then you forget about it and you move on. It just takes a fresh set of ears. Kon [Kersting, co-producer] was great for that with this record, same with our manager, Greg—having that fresh set of ears and perspective on a song that you’ve lived with for too long can really change things.”
“Oh Saturday”
EM: “It feels a bit like a pick-me-up. Thematically, it’s talking to someone and hoping that they’re going to see the positive in something, or that there will be another sunrise. Or maybe even just talking to yourself. There is light on the horizon and you have to run at it. To end the record that way after so many thematically dark songs, it’s a nice way to go, ‘Cheer up, listener!’”
Group Therapy
The Rubens
“I think we’re most comfortable writing about the flaws in people,” The Rubens’ vocalist/guitarist Sam Margin tells Apple Music. “It’s not pessimistic—it’s actually meant to make people feel like they’re not alone.”
That the band’s sixth studio album is populated by characters running from their past, dealing with substance issues or navigating lost love speaks to one of the group’s key ambitions while making the record: capturing authenticity. It impacted the recording itself, with the band using live drums instead of samples and focusing more on the guitars that characterized their earlier work as opposed to the synth-indebted sounds of 2024 predecessor SODA.
Not that the album is without its stylistic leaps—at one point The Rubens even considered making two records, the first a “folky kind of country album,” the other “rocky-slash-R&B.” Ultimately, they decided to combine the best moments of each, arriving at Group Therapy. Here, Sam and his keyboard-playing brother Elliott talk through the album track by track.
“Love Me America”
Sam Margin: “It’s a love song to a time more than a country. The country happened to be America because that’s where the dream was for us, and the opportunity at that time. So it’s more of a love song to a really exciting moment for us.”
“Are You Getting High”
Elliott Margin: “It’s about the ending of a relationship, and then the acceptance of it. When you see the other person with someone else and you’re like, ‘OK, they’re happy,’ and trying to feel happy for them. I’m not happy, but hopefully one day I will be.”
“Hotel Hotel”
EM: “A lot of our ideas feel like scenes from a movie. This one for me felt like constantly running from something. It’s like a constant chase from the beginning to the end.”
SM: “You can imagine checking into this hotel and there’s a dead body being fished out of the pool. But then it flips towards the end of the song and the chords change underneath it, and then it becomes a different vibe. It ends optimistically.”
EM: “It starts running from something, and then maybe at the end it feels like you’re running to something.”
“Every Piece of Me”
EM: “It’s someone older looking back at a relationship and maybe even a whole life lived, and nostalgia creeping in, and feeling a little bit sweet on the things that weren’t so good back then. Maybe they don’t have that person anymore, and they’re on their own and they’ve got to figure out where they’re at and who they are, and they’re looking back on a time that now they imagine was quite happy, but at the time they probably didn’t think so.”
“Close Ups”
SM: “Again, imagining a movie in my head. People I know, my personal experiences with substances or depression or anxiety, and just imagining this couple going through this together, one person maybe being worse than the other. And it all started out quite fun, and now it’s taken a darker turn. It doesn’t resolve in the song, the lyrics stay very dark in the chorus.”
“Goanna”
EM: “It’s kind of like a chaotic, everything-condensed-into-a-one-night/two-night thing, where it’s like you pick me up, I pick you up. Neither of us can be picked up by the end of it. It sounds like a happy song, but it’s kind of dark.”
“Bright Light”
EM: “I imagine grabbing someone’s hand and saying, ‘You and me together. This is fun. This is also kind of scary. Let’s run towards it or run through it. And hopefully we’ll both be standing on the other side of it.’ It’s that youthful energy where nothing really matters right now, because we don’t have a mortgage and we don’t have kids, don’t have responsibilities. We feel rich because we have two grand in our bank accounts, so grab my hand and let’s run through a brick wall.”
“No Champagne”
EM: “It’s similar to ‘Are You Getting High.’ This one is the two people toasting the end of their relationship. While it is sad for both of them, it’s kind of like, ‘OK, we’re on the same page. This is it. We’re not going to have champagne because we’re not celebrating. We’ll just tip our hat to the end of the relationship.’”
“The Cannonball”
EM: “It made me smile thinking of that cinematic moment from a movie or from a romance novel where the person sees the love of their life and the lights dim and the earth shakes, but it’s actually just happening in the pokies [slot machines] room or the TAB [betting room] of the pub. That for me is more aspirational than meeting the love of your life in the nightclub or at the horse races. There’s something beautiful and simple and Australian about it.”
“Run Son”
SM: “I wrote that one at the tail end of the last album. Sometimes songs slip through the cracks and you lose perspective as a songwriter. You start to go, ‘I don’t know if I like that anymore.’ Then you forget about it and you move on. It just takes a fresh set of ears. Kon [Kersting, co-producer] was great for that with this record, same with our manager, Greg—having that fresh set of ears and perspective on a song that you’ve lived with for too long can really change things.”
“Oh Saturday”
EM: “It feels a bit like a pick-me-up. Thematically, it’s talking to someone and hoping that they’re going to see the positive in something, or that there will be another sunrise. Or maybe even just talking to yourself. There is light on the horizon and you have to run at it. To end the record that way after so many thematically dark songs, it’s a nice way to go, ‘Cheer up, listener!’”
That the band’s sixth studio album is populated by characters running from their past, dealing with substance issues or navigating lost love speaks to one of the group’s key ambitions while making the record: capturing authenticity. It impacted the recording itself, with the band using live drums instead of samples and focusing more on the guitars that characterized their earlier work as opposed to the synth-indebted sounds of 2024 predecessor SODA.
Not that the album is without its stylistic leaps—at one point The Rubens even considered making two records, the first a “folky kind of country album,” the other “rocky-slash-R&B.” Ultimately, they decided to combine the best moments of each, arriving at Group Therapy. Here, Sam and his keyboard-playing brother Elliott talk through the album track by track.
“Love Me America”
Sam Margin: “It’s a love song to a time more than a country. The country happened to be America because that’s where the dream was for us, and the opportunity at that time. So it’s more of a love song to a really exciting moment for us.”
“Are You Getting High”
Elliott Margin: “It’s about the ending of a relationship, and then the acceptance of it. When you see the other person with someone else and you’re like, ‘OK, they’re happy,’ and trying to feel happy for them. I’m not happy, but hopefully one day I will be.”
“Hotel Hotel”
EM: “A lot of our ideas feel like scenes from a movie. This one for me felt like constantly running from something. It’s like a constant chase from the beginning to the end.”
SM: “You can imagine checking into this hotel and there’s a dead body being fished out of the pool. But then it flips towards the end of the song and the chords change underneath it, and then it becomes a different vibe. It ends optimistically.”
EM: “It starts running from something, and then maybe at the end it feels like you’re running to something.”
“Every Piece of Me”
EM: “It’s someone older looking back at a relationship and maybe even a whole life lived, and nostalgia creeping in, and feeling a little bit sweet on the things that weren’t so good back then. Maybe they don’t have that person anymore, and they’re on their own and they’ve got to figure out where they’re at and who they are, and they’re looking back on a time that now they imagine was quite happy, but at the time they probably didn’t think so.”
“Close Ups”
SM: “Again, imagining a movie in my head. People I know, my personal experiences with substances or depression or anxiety, and just imagining this couple going through this together, one person maybe being worse than the other. And it all started out quite fun, and now it’s taken a darker turn. It doesn’t resolve in the song, the lyrics stay very dark in the chorus.”
“Goanna”
EM: “It’s kind of like a chaotic, everything-condensed-into-a-one-night/two-night thing, where it’s like you pick me up, I pick you up. Neither of us can be picked up by the end of it. It sounds like a happy song, but it’s kind of dark.”
“Bright Light”
EM: “I imagine grabbing someone’s hand and saying, ‘You and me together. This is fun. This is also kind of scary. Let’s run towards it or run through it. And hopefully we’ll both be standing on the other side of it.’ It’s that youthful energy where nothing really matters right now, because we don’t have a mortgage and we don’t have kids, don’t have responsibilities. We feel rich because we have two grand in our bank accounts, so grab my hand and let’s run through a brick wall.”
“No Champagne”
EM: “It’s similar to ‘Are You Getting High.’ This one is the two people toasting the end of their relationship. While it is sad for both of them, it’s kind of like, ‘OK, we’re on the same page. This is it. We’re not going to have champagne because we’re not celebrating. We’ll just tip our hat to the end of the relationship.’”
“The Cannonball”
EM: “It made me smile thinking of that cinematic moment from a movie or from a romance novel where the person sees the love of their life and the lights dim and the earth shakes, but it’s actually just happening in the pokies [slot machines] room or the TAB [betting room] of the pub. That for me is more aspirational than meeting the love of your life in the nightclub or at the horse races. There’s something beautiful and simple and Australian about it.”
“Run Son”
SM: “I wrote that one at the tail end of the last album. Sometimes songs slip through the cracks and you lose perspective as a songwriter. You start to go, ‘I don’t know if I like that anymore.’ Then you forget about it and you move on. It just takes a fresh set of ears. Kon [Kersting, co-producer] was great for that with this record, same with our manager, Greg—having that fresh set of ears and perspective on a song that you’ve lived with for too long can really change things.”
“Oh Saturday”
EM: “It feels a bit like a pick-me-up. Thematically, it’s talking to someone and hoping that they’re going to see the positive in something, or that there will be another sunrise. Or maybe even just talking to yourself. There is light on the horizon and you have to run at it. To end the record that way after so many thematically dark songs, it’s a nice way to go, ‘Cheer up, listener!’”
