Kuala Lumpur-based rapper Gard has announced his new album HERON, due 22 October 2026. 

The 14-track album is his first solo project under the name Gard. His earlier albums were collaborations with producer Wuzgut as one half of the hip-hop and R&B duo GARD WUZGUT. It features four guest artists, whose identities have not yet been disclosed.

In a statement, Gard said the album was inspired by his upbringing in Kuala Lumpur.

“Growing up amid scammers, addicts and gangsters, I was always aware of the social divide right next to us. Just a few minutes’ walk away, you could see multi-storey houses with grand pillars. The dream of getting out was always there, like trying to touch the moon, or a reflection in the water.”

“HERON was born from that experience,” he said. 

The title also plays on “heroin” as the female lead of a story, the woman who accompanies every tale on the album.

For the cover, Gard enlisted street artist and visual painter Putra Aqmal, known for painting on raw, unconventional surfaces such as discarded cardboard, a material left behind by homeless and marginalised people that he turns into a medium for dignity and storytelling.

The artwork shows a person sitting quietly, sheltered beneath the outstretched wings of a heron.

“It represents souls without the strength to speak, yet still holding on to the hope of flying,” Gard said.

HERON is set to drop on 22 October 2026 and is available to pre-save on Apple Music and Spotify.