Today, Band of Horses have returned to announce their sixth album, their first full-length in five years. The follow-up to 2016’s Why Are You OK is titled Things Are Great—an album title I really wish I could relate to. The news comes with the lead single “Crutch,” which is a combination of catchy folk-rock and blown-out arena indie that centers around bittersweet wordplay.
Band founder Ben Bridwell explained, “I think like a lot of my songs, ‘Crutch’ starts with something from my real life. Obviously ‘Crutch’ means some of the things that I was dependent on. My relationship for one. I think I wanted to say, ‘I’ve got a crush on you,’ and I thought it was funny how relationships also feel like crutches. I feel like everybody has had a time when nothing goes right and you still have to carry on. I think that feeling hits you in this song even if you don’t know what the specifics are.”
Bridwell also revealed his larger role in production for the forthcoming album, recruiting past collaborators Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle, Dave Fridmann, and Dave Sardy for help. Things Are Great was engineered by Wolfgang “Wolfie” Zimmerman and is out January 21.
Listen to “Crutch” below, and pre-order the album here.
