A Giant Dog have shared “I Believe,” the track is the latest single off their forthcoming album Bite, available August 25th via Merge Records (The Mountain Goats, Archers Of Loaf). The band has also announced a new run of North American, UK, an EU Tour dates.

Bite is described as an intricately constructed concept album, a tale about its protagonist’s ultimately tragic days in a “virtual utopia” called Avalonia. New sounds and textures abound, including, most notably, sumptuous string arrangements. Fans eager to learn more about the narrative and its many themes – among them gender dysphoria and the inherent dangers of virtual reality – need not fear, because the band has completed a full-fledged screenplay to support it.

The biggest point of departure is that Bite is a concept album, concerning characters who find themselves moving in and out of a virtual reality called Avalonia. You’re thrown into it quickly, as a calm, robotic voice says, “Welcome to Avalonia, happiness awaits inside” over a crushing synth line that segues into an opulent string arrangement.

Bite, is A Giant Dog’s first album of original songs since 2017’s Toy, Bite finds the band—Sabrina Ellis, Andrew Cashen, Danny Blanchard, Graham Low, and Andy Bauer—at their peak as musicians, challenging themselves with more complex arrangements and subject matter that forced them out of their heads and into those of the characters who occupy this supposed paradise.

“Within our previous albums, the subject matter, the lyrics are all very personal, based on our experiences—self-centered, even,” Ellis explains. “In making this conceptual album, we had to find ourselves within, or project ourselves into, the principal characters. We developed them, got to know their minds, emotions, and motivations, and then expressed those in nine songs. The songs aren’t demonstrative as in musical theater. Instead, the songs are heated moments, internal expressions that stand on their own.”

A Giant Dog
Bite
Merge Records
Tracklist

Welcome to Avalonia
Happiness Awaits Inside
I Believe
In Destiny
Different Than
A Daydream
Watch Me Sleeping
Watch It Burn
In Rainbows
A Giant Dog 2023 Tour Dates

August

18 – Parish (Album Release Show)- Austin, TX
24 – Woodstockeboda – Alvesta, SE
25 – Get Lost Fest – Hamburg, DE
26 – Gutter City Fest – Copenhagen, DK
29 – Siate Reis Pub – Halden, NO
30 – Kafe Hærverk – Oslo, NO
31 – Hus 7 – Stockholm, SE

September

1 – Hush Hush Club – Jonkoping, SE
2 – NGBG Fest – Malmö, SE
3 – An der Autobahn – Berlin, DE
5 – Reifenlager West – Essen, DE
6 – Merlevn – Nijmegen, NL
7 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
8 – Mysty Fields – Asten-Heusden, NL
9 – Rock in the Barn – Vexin-sur-Epte, FR
10 – Frisson Acidulé – Vitry-sur-Sein, FR
13 – Le Trokson – Lyon, FR
14 – Secret Place – Montpellier, FR
15 – Gambeat Festival – Barcelona, ES
16 – El Diablo en el Esablo – Alcalà de Henares, ES
16 – Wurlitzer Ballroom – Madrid, ES
17 – Mojo Club – Tarragona, ES
19 – Il Fantasma dei Briganti – Cuneo, IT
20 – Blah Blah – Turin, IT
22 – Covo Club – Bologna, IT
24 – ISC Club – Bern, CH
25 – Horst – Kreuzlingen, CH
26 – Schokofabrik – Bayreuth, DE
27 – Immerhin – Würzburg, DE
28 – Alte Hackerei – Karlsruhe, DE
29 – Villa Nachttanz – Heidelberg, DE
30 – Spitalkirsche – Pfarrkirchen, DE

October

10 – Siberia – New Orleans, LA
11 – The EARL – Atlanta, GA
12 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
13 – Get Tight Lounge – Richmond, VA
14 – Metro – Baltimore, MD
15 – Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA
17 – The Middle East – Boston, MA
19 – The Sultan Room – Brooklyn, NY
22 – Spirit – Pittsburgh, PA
23 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
24 – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
25 – Icehouse – Minneapolis, MN
26 – Record Bar – Kansas City, MO
27 – Smoke and Barrel – Fayetteville, AR
28 – Mercury Lounge – Tulsa, OK
29 – Three Links Deep Ellum – Dallas, TX

November

6 – Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
7 – HQ – Denver, CO
8 – Beehive – Salt Lake City, UT
9 – The Olympic – Boise, ID
10 – El Corazon – Seattle, WA
11 – Dante’s Hifi – Portland, OR
13 – Bottom Of The Hill – San Francisco, CA
14 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
15 – Zebulon – Los Angeles, CA
16 – 191 Toole – Tucson, AZ

Pre-order Bite by A Giant Dog HERE