Jangle-pop duo Ducks Ltd. have been a Stereogum comments section favorite since back when they were going by Ducks Unlimited. (We have no idea what happened to the duck supply since then — maybe a COVID-related logistics matter?) Carpark reissued the band’s Get Bleak EP back in May, and today they’re announcing their full-length debut.

Modern Fiction, out the first day of October, is preceded today by lead single “18 Cigarettes.” Built upon layers of urgent guitar and keyboard texture plus cello by guest Eliza Neimi, it’s a tense, pretty, rhythmically charged new wave track that exists on the same continuum as the C86 scene and early blog-era stars like the Strokes and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Tom McGreevy’s high-arching chorus melody is a stunner, as is the screaming guitar melody that leads into that refrain and complements the vocal: “I wanted things to stay/ How they would not stay.” Lots to like about this one.

According to McGreevy, the song was inspired by a 1997 performance of “Don’t Go Away” by Oasis: “The thing I came to love about the song after watching that performance over and over again is that it’s a song that kind of tells on itself. It’s a really raw emotional expression from someone whose capacity to talk about their feelings is stunted and they’re cut up about it. ’18 Cigarettes’ is kind of an attempt to do a different version of what that song does.”

Watch director Ali Vanderkruyk’s video for “18 Cigarettes” below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “How Lonely Are You”
02 “Old Times”
03 “18 Cigarettes”
04 “Under The Rolling Moon”
05 “Fit To Burst”
06 “Patience Wearing Thin”
07 “Always There”
08 “Sullen Leering Hope”
09 “‘Twere Ever Thus”
10 “Grand Final Day”

Modern Fiction is out 10/1 on Carpark. Pre-order it here.