Preoccupations have unveiled another spellbinding track from their highly anticipated new album. New Material will be released March 23rd on Jagjaguwar. ‘Antidote’ is the second single, a rhythmic burner showcasing a band at the top of their game. The visual for the song was directed by Michael Wallace and Evan Pearce. Matt from the band adds – “Antidote is about humans forgetting that we’re apes, it’s about trying to make sense out of something that we’d be better off not trying to make sense of. Its about having infinite knowledge at our fingertips, but still making all the wrong choices over and over. It’s about trying to find a moment in your day where you can take a breath and remember that we’re basically all just animals bumbling around.”
Watch the video for ‘Antidote’ below.
More on New Material:
‘New Material’ builds a world for that feeling, playing through its layers and complexities while hiding almost nothing. That inscrutable side is part of the magic, here, and a necessary counterweight to the straight-jab clarity of Flegel’s lyrics. You can deep-dive the lyrics or zone into a riff; you can face it or you can get lost in it. “My ultimate goal would be to make a record where nobody knows what instrument is playing ever,” says multi-instrumentalist Scott Munro, “and I think we’ve come closer than ever, here. It shouldn’t sound robotic — it should sound human, like people playing instruments. It’s just maybe no one knows what they are.”
Opener “Espionage” lives up to Munro’s goals, kicking off with a clattering, rhythmic echo that gives way to sprinting percussion and a melody in the orbit of Manchester’s classics. “Manipulation” explores the futility of going through the motions, balancing a droney, minimal march with a thunder roll that brings it to the brink, and to the doomed romantic declaration, “please don’t remember me like I’ll always remember you.” “Disarray” bursts up like a blackened confetti cannon, the song’s undeniably bright melody dancing over a refrain of “disarray, disarray, disarray” and literally nothing else. “A lot of this is about futility,” he says, “trying to find something where there’s nothing to be found.” That hunt turns into a search-and-destroy mission on “Decompose”, a tense, speedy, “blow yourself up and start again” type of song, the very picture of creation and destruction, as Flegel writes “for better or worse, we are cursed in the ways that we tend to be.” And while calling an album ’New Material’ might seem like a smartass move, the truth is it’s as matter-of-fact a title as Espionage, Disarray, or anything else on the record. Why fight that?
If the through-line unifying Preoccupations’ work is a furious, almost punishing cyclical quality, ‘New Material’ does offer some relief. “This is somehow the most uptempo thing we’ve ever done,” observes Flegel. That propulsive, itchy quality rescues ‘New Material’ from the proverbial bottom of the pit. To write these songs is to force oneself to reignite, to play them is to stand up and reengage. Closer “Compliance” may not seem revelatory on first listen, but it is deeply elemental, a crucial finale and the band’s first standalone instrumental. Original versions were built to death, reexamined and re-destroyed until they landed on just two chords — something simple, fundamental — and resolved to make meaning out of that, to show instead of tell. Flegel acknowledges it is more affecting to him than any other song on the record. It’s not redemption, more like a forced reprieve.
The band announced the new record with the blistering track ‘Espionage.’
“Exhilarating” – Uproxx
“A tune with the dark and driving feel of a Factory Records single, delving further into the new wave/industrial zone they began exploring on their self-titled second album.” – Spin
“Shifty and moody.” – Stereogum
“A firebomb of post-punk riffs and Joy Division-esque percussion, “Espionage” is an enthralling four-and-a-half minutes of music.” – Indie Shuffle
“Espionage” is much brighter than you’d expect, at least instrumentally. The song melds reverberating drums with shiny, retro-sounding synths and muted guitars, with only Flegel’s harsh vocals conveying Preoccupations’ usual menace.” – Paste
“A real post-punk corker, driving and danceable (in a goth club kind of way).” – Brooklyn Vegan
“There is a dark, sinister vibe to the song as its flat production values and claustrophobic vocals give it a quality that few modern groups have.” – MXDWN
New Material tracklisting
Espionage
Decompose
Disarray
Manipulation
Antidote
Solace
Doubt
Compliance
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