Audiobooks is a duo made up of vocalist/visual artist Evangeline Ling and David Wrench — who has a deeply impressive resume as a producer/mixer, having worked with Frank Ocean, David Byrne, Caribou, and the xx. They released their debut Now! (in a minute) in 2018, and today they announced its followup Astro Tough will arrive in October.

“The first album was a photograph of the beginnings of the project, recorded without any overall plan,” Wrench explained in a statement. “Astro Tough is more scripted, but a script that still allowed for lots of improvised scenes. There was more intention behind the songs, and a lot more refining. We weren’t precious about everything being spontaneous and a first take, like on the first record, even though some of it ended up being that. We made a lot more material for this record but chose the tracks that best worked together as an album.”

Along with the news, audiobooks have shared a lead single called “The Doll.” Here’s what Wrench had to say about the video:

I had the idea for “The Doll” video while out for a walk. I was watching a child walk confidently, checking their surroundings, taking it all in. I started to recall how the world used to look as a child. I was lucky to grow up in the countryside and to be able to walk alone in nature. My father was a sportsman (he won a Commonwealth medal for Wales for Weightlifting) and a PE teacher, so I used to go with him and spend time in empty sports venues. There is a special atmosphere to places built for crowds when they are empty. It struck me that a video based on a child exploring these empty spaces and finding something that had been lost would make a really fitting film for our track “The Doll.”

The track itself features Ling sing-speaking over throbbing electronics and intensifying beats, making for a song that could just as easily be an arty zone-out as it could a dancefloor banger. Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “The Doll”
02 “LaLaLa It’s The Good Life”
03 “The English Manipulator”
04 “He Called Me Bambi”
05 “Blue Tits”
06 “First Move”
07 “Driven By Beef”
08 “Trouble In Business Class”
09 “Black Lipstick”
10 “Farmer”

Astro Tough is out 10/1 via Heavenly Recordings. Pre-order it here.