Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen
On the heels of their theatrical page-turner through time, We Also Have Eras Tour, Guster’s career-spanning play-off Taylor Swift’s latest stadium crawl, the band has shared a new preview from the Josh Kaufman-produced LP, Ooh La La, due Friday, May 17 via Ocho Mule Records.
A preview of the band’s impending set, “Maybe We’re Alright,” is a nostalgic callback and a thoughtful send-off, serving as the final track on the album.
“The best songs are transportive,” says Guster’s Ryan Miller. “As ‘Maybe We’re Alright’ was coming together, I started thinking about the song, ‘Life in a Northern Town’ by The Dream Academy…it’s always held part of me and I thought it could be a useful lodestar for our song. Nostalgic, evocative, hopeful — a really powerful destination if you can get there.”
Ooh La La represents Guster’s first new batch of music in five years, following the release of 2019’s Look Alive. The forthcoming set builds off rich layers of acoustic guitar and tasteful piano work for a warm feel that radiates throughout. The set received production assistance from Ron Aniello (Bruce Springsteen) and Rich Costey (Death Cab for Cutie, Of Monsters and Men), meditating on the formidable haunts of modern life.
“When I listen back to the album now it feels like there’s depth everywhere,” says drummer Brian Rosenworcel. “There’s not a moment where we strike a chord that isn’t meaningful to us. Nobody was going to accept a song that didn’t hit at a certain level, and it feels good to still have that passion more than 30 years into our career.”
“We feel lucky that we’ve created a dynamic where there’s no real separation between us and our fans,” added Adam Gardner. “We’re all part of a community, and it’s theirs just as much as it’s ours.”
Miller followed up, building off Gardner’s statement: “One of the main reasons we’re still a band is the fans who’ve come to see us for years, the people who show us the tattoos they’ve gotten with our lyrics. It inspires us to stay creative and stay fearless, instead of just making the same record over and over. Everything we do is in service of that connection, and at this point I’d say we’re definitely lifers.”
Pre-order Ooh La La now. Stream “Maybe We’re Alright” below.
Tracklisting:
This Heart is Occupied
When We Were Stars
All Day
My Kind
Keep Going
Gauguin, Cézanne (Everlasting Love)
Witness Tree
Black Balloon
The Elevator