The Chills’ their most recent album, Snow Bound, sent them touring around the world — including a stop at our 2019 SXSW party, the thought of which is making me extremely nostalgic for concerts. Two years later, the Dunedin guitar-pop veterans have returned with a new single that purportedly begins “a new epoch” for the band.

“You’re Immortal” is baroque, propulsive, and deeply catchy; Chills mastermind Martin Phillipps cites Love’s Forever Changes as a primary influence, but it’s just as much part of the post-punk and indie-pop traditions that have always informed the Kiwi underground. Phillipps bills this song as a quest for truth and hope in a time of misinformation and despair. Here’s a statement from the guy:

These are unprecedented times but, as usual, the young feel invulnerable and the elders are concerned. The old people (like me) want to feel more involved but they also know that their time of influence has largely passed. So we learn from the young and admire them as they make their own mistakes yet still, hopefully, shape extraordinary history we could not have imagined.

Listen below.

“You’re Immortal” is out now on Fire Records.