It's been six years since La Dispute latest album, Panorama. The post-hardcore crew has been teasing a new album in letters to fans, and today they're officially announcing the self-produced No One Was Driving The Car and releasing the first three tracks.
“I Shaved My Head,” “Man With Hands And Ankles Bound,” and “Autofiction Detail” make up the first act of the record, which is influenced by Paul Schrader's 2017 psychological thriller First Reformed. Here's what frontman Jordan Dreyer said about it:
it begins with a man examining his own slow dissociation from himself while shaving his head alone in a bathroom at night, then shifts through a neighbor’s open window to a conversation about control and desire, framed via the image of a man seen through it: bound on the floor with a woman standing before him, presumably a sex worker. when the woman exits the building (her companion still tied up), the narrator leaves his own, following less her than the idea represented by her inside his own struggle to reconnect to desires for life severed by time, self, and circumstance, or perhaps fleeing the implication he draws from the man left behind (his helplessness, maybe, or else his confidence to pursue something complicated where the narrator has so consistently failed). the third song follows him on that destination-less late night walk, among the street people and their disasters, ending where he had the whole night subconsciously always headed: the hospital where his partner works, at which point an internal reckoning occurs.
The title No One Was Driving The Car comes from a quote from a police officer Dreyer read in a news article about a lethal self-driving Tesla crash, which led him to ruminate on themes of control. Opener "I Shaved My Head" comes with a music video directed by Steven Paseshnik and the band's Adam Vass. It begins with Dreyer's strained shouts, isolated and intense. When the guitars come in, they sound seriously sick. "Man With Hands And Ankles Bound" has La Dispute's typical rapid-fire post-hardcore and poetry, and "Autofiction Detail" is more laid-back and contemplative with a great bassline. Hear the singles below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "I Shaved My Head"
02 "Man With Hands And Ankles Bound"
03 "Autofiction Detail"
04 "Environmental Catastrophe Film"
05 "Self-Portrait Backwards"
06 "The Field"
07 "Sibling Fistfight At Mom’s Fiftieth / The Un-Sound"
08 "Landlord Calls The Sheriff In"
09 "Steve"
10 "Top-Sellers Banquet"
11 "Saturation Diver"
12 "I Dreamt Of A Room With All My Friends"
13 "No One Was Driving The Car"
14 "End Times Sermon"
TOUR DATES:
07/10 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
07/11 – Cheltenham, UK @ 2000 Trees Festival
07/12 – Cheltenham, UK @ 2000 Trees Festival
07/14 – Hannover, DE @ MusikZentrum
07/15 – Nürnberg, DE @ Hirsch
07/16 – Karlsruhe, DE @ Substage
07/18 – Cologne, DE @ Open Stage Suedbruecke (w/ Enter Shikari)
07/19 – Herk-de-Stad, BE @ Rock Herk Festival
07/20 – Cuxhaven, DE @ Deichbrand Festival
09/05 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew's Hall
09/06 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
09/07 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
09/08 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall
09/10 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
09/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
09/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
09/13 – Washington, DC @ Howard Theater
09/14 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
09/16 – Orlando, FL @ The Beacham
09/17 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
09/18 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East
09/19 – Columbus, OH @ King of Clubs
09/20 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Centre
No One Was Driving The Car is out 9/5 via Epitaph.
