Girls In Hawaii break a nine-year silence with ‘Eldorado’ and new single

Nine years is a long time to wait. But Belgian indie pop icons Girls In Hawaii have finally broken their studio silence with Is It Happening Right Now?, their first original material since ‘Nocturne’ dropped back in 2017. The new single is out now via Capitane Records, and it’s the opening salvo from their forthcoming album ‘Eldorado’, due September 25, 2026.

If you’ve been sleeping on Girls In Hawaii, here’s your wake-up call. Formed in Brussels in the early 2000s by two sets of brothers — Antoine and Denis Wielemans, and Lionel and Brice Vancauwenberghe — the band carved out a serious corner of the European indie rock world across albums like ‘From Here To There’ (2003), ‘Plan Your Escape’ (2008), and ‘Everest’ (2013). Think dreamy, layered indie pop with shades of Grandaddy, The Flaming Lips, and Radiohead — melancholic but never hopeless, fragile but never frail.

Is It Happening Right Now? picks right up where that legacy left off, while pushing into something newer and a little more electric. The track pulses with dynamic rhythms and airy melodies, toggling between vertigo and clarity — it’s the musical equivalent of that moment when you snap out of autopilot and suddenly notice the world around you again. The message is deceptively simple: look up, watch the sun, listen to your heartbeat. Easy advice that somehow hits harder than it should.

Joining Capitane Records for this chapter feels right — the label’s roster (Nicolas Michaux, Adam Green, Turner Cody) has that same instinct for music that’s emotionally precise without being overwrought. ‘Eldorado’ promises to be a proper return, reconnecting with the band’s alternative DNA while keeping one eye firmly on the future.

And they’re hitting the road in a big way. The Eldorado European Tour 2026 runs from summer through December, with stops across Belgium, France, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy — including a sold-out night at Ancienne Belgique in their home city of Brussels (a second date has been added). London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Milan — this is a proper tour.

Eldorado European Tour 2026

• 01.07.26 — Festival au Carré, Mons, BE
• 02.07.26 — Festival Beauregard, Caen, FR
• 04.09.26 — Les Solidarités, Namur, BE
• 20.10.26 — Hootananny Brixton, London, UK
• 22.10.26 — Kantine am Berghain, Berlin, DE
• 28.10.26 — Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
• 30.10.26 — La Lune Des Pirates, Amiens, FR
• 31.10.26 — Les Rockomotives, Vendôme, FR
• 05.11.26 — La Cigale, Paris, FR
• 06.11.26 — Aéronef, Lille, FR
• 07.11.26 — Le 106, Rouen, FR
• 12.11.26 — La Laiterie, Strasbourg, FR
• 13.11.26 — Le Brise Glace, Annecy, FR
• 14.11.26 — La Belle Electrique, Grenoble, FR
• 16.11.26 — Arci Bellezza, Milano, IT
• 17.11.26 — Nuovo Teatro Orione, Roma, IT
• 18.11.26 — Locomotiv Club, Bologna, IT
• 19.11.26 — La Nef, Angoulême, FR
• 20.11.26 — Krakatoa, Bordeaux, FR
• 21.11.26 — Atabal, Biarritz, FR
• 26.11.26 — Rockstore, Montpellier, FR
• 27.11.26 — La Coopérative De Mai, Clermont-Ferrand, FR
• 28.11.26 — La Rayonne, Lyon, FR
• 10.12.26 — Stereolux, Nantes, FR
• 11.12.26 — La Sirène, La Rochelle, FR
• 12.12.26 — Antipode, Rennes, FR
• 15.12.26 — Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, BE — SOLD OUT
• 16.12.26 — Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, BE

Tickets and info at girlsinhawaii.be. Follow the band on Instagram at @gihband.