Indie rock mainstays We Are Scientists return with news of their highly-anticipated ninth studio album ‘Qualifying Miles’ via Groenland Records.
The band is also sharing the lead single and video, ‘Please Don’t Say It.’ With its anthemic, infectious hook and a splash of melodrama, it captures the wry charm and emotional punch that have long defined the band’s enduring appeal.
On the track, Keith says:
“I’m always happy to spew all kinds of drama in song, just don’t make me talk about it in person, okay? “Please Don’t Say It” is, I guess, a song about being unwilling to confront my glitches anywhere but in that very song. Except, now I’m talking here about using the song to not talk about it. Weird.”
On the video, Keith offers:
“You know what we haven’t explored enough in our many years of video media creation? Fog. We’ve run rampant through city streets (‘Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt’), rode horses across Irish bogs (‘Chick Lit’), and had our eyes speared by nail guns (‘Dumb Luck’). Somehow, though, the cinematographers of those videos never had the wherewithal to exploit the sex appeal of a good fog machine. Sure, yeah, we’ve had loads of haze (‘Your Heart Is A Weapon’). Hell yes, we’ve deployed light steam (‘Rules Don’t Stop’). But it took our many accrued years of cinematographic education to finally nail the fog layers sensual enough to convey the steamy carnality of this, the most sensually befogged song of We Are Scientists’ career. Please, now: get lost in the murk of ‘Please Don’t Say It’.”
Nearing twenty years from their commercial breakthrough, the NYC band, comprising founding members Keith Murray and Chris Cain – are still constantly reinventing themselves. But with this new record comes a return to the music that shaped their childhoods, with echoes of ‘90s guitar music threading throughout the project. With their trademark danceable, razor-sharp hooks and witty lyricism, Qualifying Miles is the sound of a band revisiting their roots while interrogating the distance they have traveled.
Check out our other features with We Are Scientists HERE.
About ‘Qualifying Miles’
On Qualifying Miles, Keith Murray and Chris Cain continue to approach their craft with the same blend of intelligence, wit, and musical adventurousness that put them on the musical map. The record follows two previous self-produced albums Huffy (2021) and Lobes (2023), which were beloved by fans and critics alike for their ambitious experimentation with studio production and expanded sonic palettes. Qualifying Miles is a sharp, reflective ninth studio album that trades studio maximalism for raw immediacy, exploring themes of loss, memory, and the half-haunting pull of the past. And that’s what makes the record so compelling: it feels instinctive, unfiltered, and human – the kind of record only a band this experienced and self-aware could make.
On the album, Keith says:
“We Are Scientists’ writing process these days is to just write incessantly – good songs, terrible songs, sincere songs, goofy songs, whatever. It’s a fun process, but it kind of makes it hard to stop and get to the harder work of recording the actual album. Sometimes, it takes a song like ‘Please Don’t Say It’ to come along and get you so excited about sharing it with everyone else that you simply have no choice but to call a wrap on the writing process and immediately start making a record. We got so excited by the appearance of ‘Please Don’t Say It’ that was the last song we wrote for Qualifying Miles; we needed it out in the world.”
‘Qualifying Miles’ tracklist
- A Prelude to What
- Starry-Eyed
- Dead Letters
- The Big One
- Please Don’t Say It
- The Same Mistake
- What You Want Is Gone
- A Lesson I Never Learned
- I Could Do Much Worse
- I Already Hate This
- The Mall in My Dreams
- Promise Me
Featured image by Sari Murray.
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