Iconic New York duo We Are Scientists tease their upcoming new record with a slice of indie pop gold. 

Dropping just ahead of the anticipated eighth studio album, ‘Lobes‘ – due on 20th January 2023 via 100% Records – the band step into 2023 with an optimistic funk-infused track that perfectly pulls together bombastic drums, staccato synths and catchy hooks around an addictive and reassuring groove.

“It’s nice that things have come full-circle,” says vocalist/guitarist Keith Murray about ‘Settled Accounts’ (which premiered via Under The Radar and received its first UK spin from Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2 last night). “Strident old Keith would have argued that funk was the one true musical genre. And here we are, with our funkiest tune yet.” The track brims with chiming, funk-infused guitars while its epicly soaring chorus begs for a singalong. “When I was a younger, more brazen guy, I was incredibly steadfast in my beliefs,” he explains. “Everything I liked was not just ‘enjoyable,’ but ‘categorically good,’ the people I hung out with were not just ‘fun people,’ but the ‘best gang,’ the ideas I subscribed to were not just ‘interesting,’ but ‘fundamentally correct.’ These days, I’m just way less sure about everything.” 

Murray knows he can still be a “bullheaded fool” who will stridently argue that some particular genre of music (Country Pop) is “inherently dumb,” or that Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s irreverently classic sports film BASEketball is probably the “most important cinematic contribution of the 1990s,” but he confidently admits he never believes he’s actually, “objectively right” about anything anymore, adding, “The more I live, the more I experience, and the more people deliver rhetorical smack-downs on the daily, the more I just realize I don’t know anything. Anything! All of what I thought was rigorous intellectualization has kind of gotten me nowhere. I might as well just surrender and go with it.”

Settled Accounts’ follows on from recent singles ‘Lucky Just To Be Here’, ‘Less From You’ and ‘Operator Error’, and is the latest to be revealed from the aforementioned record ‘Lobes‘, which is the band’s second self-produced outing.

We Are Scientists will also be heading out on the road with Eevah, Bleach Lab, Cherym and Liz Lawrence in tow, completing an extensive tour of the UK and Europe in support of the record throughout February, March and April 2023. Dates for the ‘Show Lobes’ tour include a London headline show at KOKO in Camden on 3rd March.

The upcoming new album follows on from the weighty indie rock masterpiece ‘HUFFY’ (2021), and whilst the origins of songs written for ‘Lobes’ began around the same time, the impression so far suggests they grew into an entirely different musical universe. The album’s lead single ‘Operator Error’ and follow-up ‘Less From You’ are an exciting taste of the fresh direction expected on ‘Lobes’, and have already received praise in the UK from the likes of the BBC and NME.

‘Lobes’ by We Are Scientists is due out 20th January 2023 via 100% Records. Pre-order the album here.

Show Lobes Tour Dates – UK & Europe 2023

19.02.2023      UK Manchester – Gorilla (SOLD OUT)
20.02.2023      UK Belfast – Limelight 2
21.02.2023      IE Dublin – Whelan’s
23.02.2023      UK Glasgow – Oran Mor
24.02.2023      UK Newcastle – Northumbria Uni
25.02.2023      UK Leeds – Wardrobe (SOLD OUT)
26.02.2023      UK Bristol – Thekla
28.02.2023      UK Birmingham – O2 Institute 2
01.03.2023      UK Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
02.03.2023      UK Southampton – Engine Rooms
03.03.2023      UK London – KOKO

26.03.2023      FR Paris – Le Petit Bain
27.03.2023      NL Maastricht – Muziekgieterij
28.03.2023      BE Antwerp – Kavka
30.03.2023      NL Amsterdam – Paradiso Noord
31.03.2023      DE Cologne – Luxor
02.04.2023      DE Hamburg – Knust
03.04.2023      DE Berlin – Hole44
04.04.2023      DE Leipzig – WERK 2
05.04.2023      DE Nuremberg – Z-Bau
07.04.2023      CZ Prague – Futurum
08.04.2023      SK Bratislava – Nová Cvernovka
09.04.2023      AU Vienna – Flex
11.04.2023      DE Munich – Hansa 39
12.04.2023      DE Wiesbaden – Schlachthof (Kesselhaus)
14.04.2023      FR Lille – L’Aéronef Club

Tickets are on sale now here.

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Desh Kapur UK-Editor/Photographer

My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago