Making a name for themselves via punchy minute-long songs packed with raw lyricism and energetic instrumentation, Fits embody power-pop in its purest form. Today, the Brooklyn-based trio unleashed a new single from their forthcoming debut album, All Belief Is Paradise, following the excellent lead single, “Ice Cream On A Nice Day,” and the furious jam, “Running Out.” “Hot Topic” is beautifully clumsy; Nicholas Cummins seems to talk in circles, embracing an ambiguous, poetic narrative to touch on identity and the pressure to define oneself. Cummins’ hopeful tone matches the melody’s subdued bounce, leaving you with a sense of tired optimism.

Cummins explains the song in their own words:

This song is about losing your voice, getting caught in the throat, and missing an opportunity to stand up for yourself and who you are. In that way it’s about a failure, but it’s also not an apology. National coming out day was last week and it reminded me of this ever-present pressure to describe, defend and explain your identity in really personal ways to complete strangers all the time. The personal is definitely political and all of us are intertwined but sometimes you don’t want to be a narrative, you just want to be a person who’s like, eating a bagel or playing Starcraft of going to the beach and stuff. Society can be exhausting and it can be really easy to forget that we’re all individuals, with 8 billion gender presentations and 8 billion selves. You don’t owe everyone all of your courage all of the time.

Listen to “Hot Topic” below.

All Belief Is Paradise is out 11/17 via Father/Daughter Records. Pre-order it here.