Romantic relationships are the most volatile kind; they’re scary, intense things to invest in, because once you’re committed, getting out seems like an impossibility. Mutual Benefit’s last offering, Love’s Crushing Diamond, was an album about being on the road constantly searching for something, and it navigated that sense of free-fall and displacement with knowing precision. It’s been three years since that LP was released, and it shows. Mutual Benefit’s forthcoming follow-up, Skip A Sinking Stone, questions what it requires to build a life somewhere and whether or not finding the perfect place to call home should be everyone’s end-goal.

The album’s first single, “Not For Nothing,” hinges on the moment when you leave someone behind and start to feel your love for them deepen as time and distance work together to dig a trench between you. “Winding road and setting suns/ Takes us back from where we’ve come/ And I don’t want to see this love/ Become a memory.” Missing someone is a confounding feeling, especially when you’re not the type to settle down. It’s exciting and life-affirming, but it’s also incredibly painful. “Not For Nothing” captures that particular kind of yearning perfectly. We heard a live version of it back in 2015, but now you can watch a video for the studio recording and check out the album’s artwork and tracklist below. Read our old Band To Watch profile on Mutual Benefit here.

Skip A Sinking Stone tracklist:

01 “Madrugada”
02 “Skipping Stones”
03 “Closer, Still”
04 “Lost Dreamers”
05 “Getting Gone”
06 “Not for Nothing”
07 “Nocturne”
08 “Slow March”
09 “Many Returns”
10 “City Sirens”
11 “Fire Escape”
12 “The Hereafter”

Skip A Sinking Stone is out 5/20 via Mom+Pop/Transgressive/Spunk.