Nation of Language have shared single and video, “The Grey Commute,” out today. The Brooklyn trio includes Ian Devaney, Aidan Noell and Michael Sue-Poi. Along with the news, the trio have announced their worldwide deal with [PIAS] for the release their album, A Way Forward, on November 5. Production on the record was divided between Abe Seiferth (who worked on Introduction, Presence) and Nick Milhiser of Holy Ghost!

Discussing “The Grey Commute” songwriter/vocalist Ian Devaney offered, “In some ways ‘The Grey Commute’ is one of the more upbeat songs of the record, but in truth it’s one that was born out of much more depressing stuff. As I was working on the lyrics I had a kind of fixation on terrible tax policies, our cultural addiction to meaningless consumption, and it all got swept together into this punchy, kind of fun track.

To give a sense of time: the Republican tax plan, under which we’re currently living, was just being passed and it was pretty clear just how mind-bindingly stupid it was. Such deep cuts to the taxes of the hyper-wealthy and corporations were both shocking and not shocking at all, and it was difficult to comprehend that anyone thought it wouldn’t lead to the exacerbation of the inequality and instability that defines our time. But here we are. You can see everything I felt then pretty clearly represented on the page when absent any backbeat and melody, but the rant gets dressed up a bit with some bounciness on the final cut to help serve as a bit of a Trojan horse to hopefully get the sentiment across.

The video’s overt absurdity serves a similar purpose in trying to compliment the absurdity of the subject matter. We turned the task of hitting that particular note over to our friend Gary Canino, who has been churning out amazing videos for his own musical project (Dark Tea) for some time. We’d been devouring his work over the past year, and Aidan actually ended up in the video for his song ‘Buying A Gun’. He’s able to use humor in a way that has thus far eluded me when it comes to making our own videos, and this really felt like the right song to bring some of that energy to.”

Nation of Language
A Way Forward
Tracklist
PIAS

01. In Manhattan
02. Across That Fine Line
03. Wounds of Love
04. Miranda
05. The Grey Commute
06. This Fractured Mind
07. Former Self
08. Whatever You Want
09. A Word & A Wave
10. They’re Beckoning

Nation of Language
Live Dates

10/20 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah [SOLD OUT]
10/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Lodge Room
10/22 – Anaheim, CA @ The Parish
10/23 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar [SOLD OUT]
10/27 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
10/28 – Austin, TX @ Levitation @ Empire Control Room
10/29 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
10/30 – Chapel Hill @ Cat’s Cradle
10/31 – Washington DC @ Songbyrd [SOLD OUT]
01/10 – Cologne, DE @ YUCA
01/11 – Antwerp, BE @ TRIX Bar
01/12 – Amsterdam, NE @ Paradisio
01/14 – Hamburg, DE @ Turmzimmer
01/15 – Copenhagen, DK @ Ideal Bar
01/16 – Stockholm, SE @ Obaren [free]
01/17 – Oslo, NO @ Bla
01/19 – Berlin, DE @ Kantine am Berghain [SOLD OUT]
01/20 – Zurich, CH @ Kater
01/22 – Barcelona, ES @ Laut
01/23 – Madrid, ES @ Sala El Sol
01/25 – Paris, FR @ Supersonic [free]
01/27 – Leeds, UK @ Hyde Park Book Club [SOLD OUT]
01/28 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast [SOLD OUT]
01/29 – Dublin, IE @ The Grand Social
01/30 – Manchester, UK @ YES Basement [SOLD OUT]
01/31 – London, UK @ Lafayette [SOLD OUT]