Cut Worms, the project of Max Clarke, releases new single ‘Dream’, taken from his forthcoming record Transmitter, due out 13th March, 2026 via Jagjaguwar. The single was premiered today via The Matt Wilkinson Show on Apple Music 1.
A haunting, classic piano ballad, ‘Dream’ brings us back to a familiar plane: Clarke alone at the piano, tender and unresolved, pondering the fate of dreams and the risk of falling short or getting lost en route. The song wrestles with the struggle to communicate our rich inner worlds with the ones we are closest with — and having to find peace with that.
Cut Worms says of the new song, “This one’s sort of an outlier on the record. I started writing it one day a year or so ago when my friend Antony kindly let me into his church when nobody was there to use the piano for a few hours. Later on, I recorded it myself at home, and in a different, secret piano dungeon hidden somewhere in New York City (real pianos are hard to come by when you live here, in my experience). It was originally called “Cut Worms’ 1,111th Dream” but nobody wanted to say all that so it got abbreviated to “Dream,” understandably so, if not the most original title. I played the piano and bass and did the arrangement of electrical strings and one horn. Then I enlisted the very talented Jesse Kotansky, who Adam Green introduced me to, to make some real-life string recordings and had Tom the engineer blend them together in the final mix. I think it came out well.”
Cut Worms – ‘Dream’ (Official Video)
‘Dream’ follows the previously released ‘Windows on the World’ and ‘Evil Twin’, with Paste saying the former is “the richest he’s ever sounded.”
Produced by Jeff Tweedy at Wilco’s Loft studio, Transmitter marks a deepening of Clarke’s abilities and the convergence of two artists whose work searches for grace amid dislocation. Together, they conjure the ecstatic spirits of power pop and alt rock, expanding Cut Worms’ vintage palette while reaffirming his gift for timeless songwriting. These are songs shaped by the myth of self-reliance, where people sold the idea of connection through technology have been reduced to quiet transmitters—data points bought and sold, manipulated and measured, their lives distorted through the very networks meant to unite them.
In the Loft’s warm clutter of guitars, amplifiers, and books, Clarke and Tweedy quickly found common musical ground and a shared instinct for songs that hold complexity. Unlike earlier records defined by Clarke’s own guitar style and knack for arrangements, Transmitter took shape as a dialogue. While his voice and writing formed the framework, Tweedy’s guitar and bass lines sketched the rooms the songs inhabit, raising walls around them without ever sealing them off. “Jeff instinctively understood who the narrator was and what the story was about in each instance, without me ever needing to say it outright,” says Clarke. Tweedy’s presence as a producer revealed itself not in heavy-handed choices but in how he coloured spaces and continually offered new textures. His veteran knowledge and exceptional playing gave Clarke the confidence to let the songs flow more freely. Between them, their like-minded sensibilities bridged a generational gap to create something more nuanced than either might have made alone.
Cut Worms
Transmitter
Tracklisting
- Worlds Unknown
- Evil Twin
- Long Weekend
- Barfly
- Windows on the World
- Walk in an Absent Mind
- Don’t Look Down
- Shut In
- Out of Touch
- Dream
Transmitter is available to pre-order on Metallic Silver vinyl, Clear Red vinyl, Standard Black vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order here: https://cut-worms.lnk.to/transmitter
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