Modern Life is War apparently have an out-of-this-world new album on deck for us, marking the Iowa-made hardcore force’s first full-length release in a dozen years. The record itself is title Life on the Moon, and the band have also just rocketed first single “Johnny Gone” our way.
A press release describes the set — which follows 2013’s Fever Hunting — as “a tribute to loss, a reflection on grief, struggle and the beauty of living,” and is marked by the group’s “poetic despair.”
“Johnny Gone,” meanwhile, plays as a staccato chord-punctured piece of punky bleak ‘n roll, with travelogue-like lyrics hinting at themes of war, death, revolution, government tracking and more. Vocalist Jeff Eaton added in a statement that it’s “a song to settle the score and use the platform for something worth it, for once and for the first time, try to have fun with it.”
“Johnny (not John Paul Eich, nor John Lyndon nor John Lennon) has been called an aimless folk zero. Accused of riding around in cars and printing revolutionary newspapers and going broke,” he added of the song’s protagonist. “He has ideas that burn him awake at night, he cannot hold a job. He is erotically moved by economic threats in white envelopes from government agencies.”
You can hear the single, further described by Eaton as “a ball of fire in the night sky from a chattery missile sent to shatter peacetime,” up above.
Modern Life is War officially launch their Life on the Moon September 5th via Deathwish Inc./Iodine Recordings. A vinyl edition on Cloudy Earth-colored wax, limited to 100 copies, is up for pre-order now in Revolver’s shop.
Life on the Moon tracklisting:
Invocation
First Song on the Moon
There is a Telephone That Never Stops Ringing
Empty Shoes
Jackie Oh No
Johnny Gone
Homecoming Queen
You Look Like the Morning Sun
In the Shadow of Ingredion
Bloodsport
Kid Hard Dub
Over the Road
Talismanic