Late last year, former Weezer member Matt Sharp announced plans to release a new album from The Rentals, the group’s first in some 15-plus years. Today, Sharp and Co. have finally unveiled full details of the power-pop outfit’s third full-length: entitled Lost in Alphaville, it’s due out August 26th via Polyvinyl Records.
The 10-track effort was produced by Sharp, with mixing handled by D. Sardy (LCD Soundsystem, Jay Z). As noted, Sharp was joined in the studio by The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney on drums, guitarist Ryen Slegr (Ozma), pianist Lauren Chipman (The Section Quartet), and vocalists Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig (of Lucius).
In a press release, Sharp discussed the album’s recording process:
If you can’t whip yourself up into a state of full-blown rapture while you’re creating, I don’t really see the point of making music. … When I was working with Jess and Holly, for instance, I was fairly grounded in reality, but once I took their tracks back to my house I would loosen the reins to my sanity, crank the monitors so loud that all the instruments and voices would blissfully saturate together to a point where all of my delusional thoughts would just roller-skate off to Xanadu.
As our first taste, The Rentals have unveiled lead single “Thought of Sound”, which serves as their first new music since 2009’s “Songs About Time” project. While it’s not 1998 anymore, that hasn’t stopped the band from returning to the heyday of hyperactive ’90s power-pop, blending glitchy synths, crushing percussion, a few crunchy power chords, and some off-key boy-girl vocals. It may be a slightly older musical formula, but it still sounds fairly fresh and exciting.
Listen in below:
Lost in Alphaville Tracklist:
01. It’s Time To Come Home
02. Traces Of Our Tears
03. Stardust
04. 1000 Seasons
05. Damaris
06. Irrational Things
07. Thought of Sound
08. Song Of Remembering
09. Seven Years
10. The Future
