Release date: March 27, 2026

It’s a fallacy that we only “come of age” once — as young adults on the precipice of the rest of our lives. If you’re doing it right, those moments come often: when you leave a friend group that no longer suits you, when you fall in love, when you have a child, when you don’t have a child and, instead, follow your dreams. Anthony Vaccaro is in the midst of one of those moments with his new record under the Helicopter Leaves name, Sabrina Nickels. “I wanted to invest in it myself — take the more adult serious step,” he says. “Grow up.”

It’s not like Vaccaro is a slouch: he’s been the guitarist and co-songwriter for Chicago break-out rock band Beach Bunny since 2020, which has played Madison Square Garden and garnered praise from the likes of Rolling Stone. However, his solo career, up until now, has been more DIY than anything else — like his 2023 album, Get Stuck In, a gloriously weird suite of songs that he recorded in his grandparents’ basement. Sabrina Nickels is an evolution — recorded instead at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio and frequent Beach Bunny collaborator Sean O’Keefe’s (Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack)swanky home studio. Vaccaro played all the instruments himself, resulting in a dizzyingly gorgeous collection of tracks that ping-pong between unrequited love, family memories, and the sometimes unbearable experience of living.

The title of the record itself is rooted in Vaccaro’s childhood, named for a childhood family friend who transitioned later in life and died of cancer in recent years. “She changed my life by taking me to shows as a child,” says Vaccaro. “I would confide in her and show her my songs. I wanted to title my record using her chosen name.” And that’s a big deal for Vaccaro; he was too afraid to show his songs to his parents growing up. So thank God, then, for Sabrina, the spiritual center of this album.

The LP starts off on the cusp of one of those coming-of-age moments we were talking about: the deceptively bright, clap-along “It Really Never Did,” which is about growing out of old relationships and friendships — and trying to be OK with that. “As I get older and older, especially in the creative world, I don't have many people I grew up with in my life anymore,” says Vaccaro. “Everyone wants to get a normal desk job, and I’m somebody who has the ability and the privilege to be able to be creative for living. It’s hard.” And then there’s the boisterous “Feeling Nothing Is Worse,” a sugary teeth-gnasher that’s about getting sober — kind of. “When you get emotionally overwhelmed, you really are conscious of the crushing reality of existence,” Vaccaro says. “Not the negative sense, just how impactful everything can be. It’s nice to be reminded you’re a person with feelings.”

“Sorry From Now On” wanders in next, almost dragging its feet — a sonic stand-in for Vaccaro’s overly apologetic nature. “I come from a very boisterous family who speaks their mind a lot and is not afraid to, quote, unquote, make enemies,” he says. “So as I get older, I really try to make an effort to apologize for my actions.” “Moreoff More Off Than On” makes no apologies, though, a clattering ode to a weird turn of phrase Vaccaro saw in a book once. “It's not so much lyrically deep, but more about experimenting — clicking out of my comfort zone,” he says. “Falling Water (Before You)” is similarly big and bold, inspired by Vaccaro’s hatred of Chicago architecture legend Frank Lloyd Wright and his use of then-innovative, now-cheap building materials — and how poorly new inventions sometimes age. “This new invention, you'll experience in this time, in 50 years will be considered crap,” he says.

“I Should Have Been Listening” eddies in next, a lilting fairytale of a track that was almost not told; an old friend pressed him to release it. “When you're judging your own art, you have a pretty narrow view of it, because it's hard to kick yourself out of it,” Vaccaro says. “NUMBER GIRL” stands in juxtaposition, a big, brash song named after a favorite Japanese band who often apes U.S. rock & roll. “It's not an ode to that band for me, but a take on how they make music,” Vaccaro says. “When Eastern culture tries to replicate Western culture and makes something new, better.”

The dreamy “Show Me All Your Landscape Paintings” takes us back to Vaccaro’s childhood for a spell, based, in part, on a friend who has a truly dizzying collection of the titular artwork. “It reminds me of being a kid. Safe with my grandparents,” says Vaccaro. The bittersweet “Dreaming About Everyone But You” catapults us from the family basement to the bar — and all the situationships those walls have witnessed. “I've been the victim of this, too. You go on a couple dates, you hang out a little bit. And you think about me a lot, but I’m not having the same feelings,” says Vaccaro. “What’s One More Place” truly vibrates, dealing with a healthier relationship — but not without its foibles. “That's a direct quote from my partner, because she always wants to travel and see things,” Vaccaro says, adding that he’s often not as game for those adventures since traveling is literally his job. “You want to be a good partner, but you fail the mark.”

It all wraps up, though, with the lock-step march of “Self-Reliance,” a look back at the people who made us — and how we can shape our own futures. “It’s an uncomfortable song that makes me think about my grandfather and that sort of WWII generation of self-reliance.

And that’s the core of the record — the people who fit in and out of our lives, the people who stay, the people we become. “It's just me trying to find my footing — and grow,” says Vaccaro.

-Brenna Ehrlich

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