Congratulations bottle fun in its highest concentration on ‘Dr Doctor’

Posted On January 18, 2026January 18, 2026

Britney Spears, Prince, a heavy, dirty beat, and a sampled foghorn have absolutely nothing in common except for the fact that a Brighton four-piece has managed to bring them all together.

The weekends are never quite as restful as you think they’ll be, and then suddenly, it’s a new week, you’re back at your laptop, and it all starts over again: the long and exhausting slog to Friday. It’s cold too and dark as the winter loses any sense of romanticism post-Christmas, so in short, January is a drag. We’re all tired, we’re all fed up, we’re all feeling estranged from the idea of fun as a blue Monday looms. 

That’s where Congratulations are clearly keen to step in. “Remember fun?” the band’s press release dares to ask me early doors on a sleepy Monday. I don’t, I really don’t, until I hit play and the press release is right: “Congratulations do”.

‘Dr Doctor’, the band’s latest offering from their upcoming debut album, is fun bottled in its highest concentration. It’s almost stupid as the fun is delivered in the most maximalist package they could dream up, pushing into daring territories that few other acts would go for.

Instead, they’d dissolve into self-doubt, they’d maybe even dissolve into cringe, feeling callous or weird about so outrightly pulling out all the silly stops, but here, Congratulations’ unshakable dedication to slapping the listener round the face with a good time is so confident that it basically demands enjoyment. 

It’s so confidently ridiculous that it becomes authoritative, and you can sense it. It’s like the band is staring down the barrel of your headphones like ‘Yeah, we did just drop from a jagged breakbeat into a Prince-inspired groove, and what?’, or they’re like, ‘Yeah, we did just mix pure pop with a hammer-horror style music video, and you’re going to love it’.

It’s boisterous, that feels like the only word, but whether through genuine sonic masterfulness or through guts alone, it works. It really works as the punchy song just keeps throwing things at you, keeps levelling up, and so keeps you locked in.

In fact, it keeps you locked in so tight that even listening, sitting at my sleepy Monday-morning desk, I feel like I’ve been up and dancing as the energy of the song seeps in.

A few more listens, or a few more days into the week, maybe I’ll actually get to my feet; I’ll keep you updated. 

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