Later this summer, the Atlanta emo crew worlds greatest dad will follow their 2018 debut album get well soon with a new one called Better Luck Next Time, and it’s shaping up to be something special. We’ve already posted the band’s early singles “KO” and “Twenty Deer,” and now they’ve shared an absolute ripper called “The Ocean.”

“The Ocean” is not a Led Zeppelin cover. It’s not an Against Me! cover, either. Instead it’s a swaggering power-pop jam with some serious guitar crunch to it, and it’s all about being a total fucking mess. Bandleader Maddie Duncan sings about missing the Florida beaches where they grew up and also about missing one particular person. An empty bank account is a major concern, and they make that anxiety sing, getting the most out of the line “I hope that it plays out so I don’t have to work at Checkers.”

In a press release, Maddie Duncan says:

I spent most of my childhood in Florida, running through the swamp and swimming in the ocean. I know people love to shit on the place, but I’m a Florida Man at heart. It’s a wild and weird place, complete with beautiful landscapes and wildlife, some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and hate speech plastered on yard signs. Similarly, “The Ocean” is also a mixed bag, minus the hate speech and add some self-deprecating thoughts that I probably have because of all of the hate speech. A little “cApItALisM sucks” and dulls you as time goes on, but also a little love letter to a special place and person that always brings me back to that same freedom and state of joy I felt as a child. This one goes out to all the weirdos and queers that struggle with their love for a place that doesn’t always love them back.

Maddie Duncan and their partner Monica Misiak shot the video for “The Ocean” on a scooter trip through Florida. Check it out below.

Better Luck Next Time is out 9/13 on SideOneDummy.