• News

• All

Jun 12, 2025 By Caleb Campbell Photography by 0752am

Even if you don’t immediately recognize Mike Huguenor’s name, you’ve probably heard his guitar before. Following his time fronting millennial indie punk touchstones like Shinobu and Hard Girls, Huguenor has spent the last decade playing guitar in Jeff Rosenstock’s band and contributing to countless records from the DIY and punk scene. During that time, he’s developed a reputation for virtuosity and an erstwhile pop sensibility in his playing, both of which he showed off with his 2020 album of guitar instrumentals, X’ed.

Later this month, Huguenor is set to return with his sophomore solo album, Surfing the Web with the Alien. The record is another collection of instrumentals recorded with two guitars, one electric and one acoustic. Huguenor has already has shared a pair of singles from the album, “Oils of Orange” and “What Do I Do Now?,” and today he’s back with another new track, “Jaywalking Around the World,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Jaywalking Around the World” is a dreamy and fluid piece of guitar pop, moving effortlessly down a range of breezy, psychedelic, and anxious musical turns. While some chugging palm-muted rhythms keep time, Huguenor winds through various tonal changes, ambling between sections with a consistent fluidity and ease. His hypnotic guitar work sweeps the listener along, first ambling down a sunny hypnotic riff before later taking off for some space-faring soloing and ethereal passages.

Meanwhile, the accompanying video finds Huguenor and friends having fun with green screen effects, inspired, he says, “by the tragic love story of Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein and Ginger McKenna” from Casino. In the video, directed by Jonathan Kramer, Huguenor is a jaywalking musician who is hit by a distracted driver and sent skyward.

Huguenor says of the track, “When you’re a musician on tour, you often find yourself with roughly a single hour to plan, find, travel to, and eat the one real meal you’ll have all day. Pulling this off successfully becomes somewhat crucial in determining the course of the rest of the evening. Thus, there are certain sacrifices you must make. First and foremost is waiting around for stop lights to change. ‘Jaywalking Around the World’ is an anthem for anyone with anywhere to go, and no time to wait!”

Check out the song and video below. Surfing the Web with the Alien is out June 27th via Lauren Records.