Mikal Cronin returned recently with “Undertow” and “Breathe,” his first new songs in four years. And there’s more where that came from: Today, the California garage-rocker and Ty Segall super-friend has announced Seeker, his fourth full-length album, his first since 2015’s MCIII, and the first to break his numbered self-titled naming convention.

Facing heartbreak and writer’s block, Cronin retreated to a cabin in Idyllwild, a small town in the mountains, where he spent a month living alone and working on Seeker. “It was so quiet and peaceful,” Cronin says in a press release. “I got weird looks at the store. I got bug bites that didn’t heal for months. I walked around a small lake a few times. I wrote. I took literally something that’s usually a hypothetical, something every artist thinks about doing. It worked.”

After a series of fires caused by an arsonist in the area, Cronin was forced to evacuate and return to LA a few days early, where he began the recording with engineer Jason Queverand backed by Ty Segall’s Freedom Band. “I wanted to bring you into the room. Jason and I talked about the Beatles’ White Album a lot when placing mics,” says Cronin. “I brought a charred pine cone from the woods to the studio, just in case it would help. Fire — specifically its cycle of purging and reseeding the landscape — is a central theme to the record. Death and rebirth.”

Along with the announcement, Cronin is sharing the record’s shaggily melodic, lushly orchestrated lead single “Show Me.” It’s “a song about feeling small in an overwhelming world,” says Cronin. “There’s a not-quite-subtle hint of the Heartbreakers in the instrumentation and arrangement, having asked many friends to play or sing. It’s one of my favorite songs from the album, I hope you like it too.” The video, directed by Yasi Salek, shows Cronin singing and driving a 1964 Ford Falcon while his friends and collaborators play in the backseat. Watch and listen below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Shelter”
02 “Show Me”
03 “Feel It All”
04 “Fire”
05 “Sold”
06 “I’ve Got Reason”
07 “Caravan”
08 “Guardian Wall”
09 “Lost A Year”
10 “On The Shelf”

TOUR DATES:
10/25 Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
11/06 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
11/08 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
11/09 Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret
11/10 Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
11/11 Missoula, MT @ The Badlander
11/14 Saint Paul, MN @ Turf Club
11/15 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
11/16 Detroit, MI @ Deluxx Fluxx
11/17 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
11/18 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
11/19 Boston, MA @ Great Scott
11/20 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
11/22 Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
11/23 Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
11/24 Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
11/25 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
11/26 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
11/27 Austin, TX @ Barracuda
11/30 Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
12/01 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
02/10 Munich, DE @ Milla
02/11 Cologne, DE @ Bumann & SOHN
02/12 Berlin, DE @ Kantine am Berghain
02/13 Aarhus, DK @ TAPE
02/14 Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
02/15 Stockholm, SE @ Nalen
02/17 Oslo, NO @ Ingensteds
02/18 Gothenburg, SE @ Oceanen
02/19 Hamburg, DE @ Molotow (SkyBar)
02/20 Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet
02/21 Brussels, NE @ Botanique
02/22 Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
02/24 Bristol, UK @ The Louisiana
02/25 London, UK @ Moth Club
02/26 Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen
02/27 Glasgow, UK @ The Hug & Pint
02/28 Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
02/29 Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin

Seeker is out 10/25 on Merge Records. Pre-order it here.