Jack Antonoff’s band, Bleachers, has announced a new self-titled album, tour, and released a new single all in one day.
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The band’s fourth studio album, aptly named Bleachers, will be released on March 8, 2024 -- this coming from a social media-wide announcement of their new single, “Alma Mater” featuring Lana del Rey. Frontman, songwriter, and producer Jack Antonoff purposefully created this record to feel intimate to each listener. “Sometimes you want people to feel like something almost sounds unattainable, and sometimes you want people to feel like they're just in a room with you,” he told Apple Music. “I want it to be like I'm sitting on your basement floor with you.” The album will be 14 songs long, with some unreleased titles named “Me Before You” and “Call Me After Midnight.”
In a statement by their record label, the self-titled album is said to be full of Antonoff’s, “distinctly New Jersey take on the bizarre sensory contradictions of modern life, on his position in culture, and on the things he cares about. Sonically, it’s sad, it’s joyful, it’s music for driving on the highway to, for crying to, and for dancing to at weddings. There’s something reassuringly touchable and concrete about its sentiment: exist in crazy times but remember what counts.” And from what we can hear in the two singles, this seems entirely accurate.
Bleachers' first single, “Modern Girl,” was released last month as the perfect re-introduction of the band since 2021’s album Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night. With its 80’s new wave meets contemporary Americana style, “Modern Girl” is a dance track of pure joy. Antonoff sings in the chorus: “So kiss me on the cheek / Make it a long goodbye / Ooh, and all the modern girls (Just like the modern girls) / Shakin' their ass tonight.” This scream-singing (and at some points, just screaming) anthem invites its listeners to escape into a world of rhythmic synths and saxophone melodies.
Yesterday’s release “Alma Mater” featuring Lana Del Rey is a much more tame single in comparison. The song itself seems to be wandering through different sounds, as if passing through circling horns and the echoes of background singers. It has a clear sense of drive given the consistent beat, but the listener is never quite sure where the song will go. Adding to this sense of aimless travel, Lana can only be heard on harmonies and background voices until she croons the lyric, “I’ll make it darker.” The storyline seems to follow a romantic relationship being compared to a hometown school, with Antonoff making clear references to New Jersey. “She's my alma mater / Well, summer's gettin' hotter / Threw her T-shirt down the pike,” he sings, before continuing on the bridge, “Joke about blowin' town tonight / Until we drive past my alma mater.”
In addition to the March release date, full set list, and new single, Bleachers also announced a coinciding U.K. tour with four concert dates. The “from the studio to the stage” tour begins its pre-sale on November 22, though the band also posted, “usa + plenty more dates to be announced next.”
While you’re waiting for yet another news drop, the album Bleachers is now available for pre-sale from the official Bleachers website here. You can also tune into the GRAMMYs this February, as Jack Antonoff was nominated for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical for the fourth time following 2 consecutive wins. Yeah, fair to say that Bleachers is getting ready to “Take the Money” in 2024!