Screen_Shot_2017-10-02_at_3.42.37_PM

I The Mighty talk new album, premiere new song, "Where The Mind Wants To Go"

[Photo by: I The Mighty/Instagram]

I The Mighty have been in hibernation for the lion’s share of a whole year while they created their fourth and latest record, which will be released on Oct. 20. 

The San Francisco alt-rockers came out of hiding briefly in June for only two U.K. appearances: their first-ever headline show in London and a slot at Download Festival, which is where we spoke to frontman Brent Walsh about the new album, Where The Mind Wants To Go/Where You Let It Go. We also have a new track from the new album, which you can listen to below.

Read more: I The Mighty Socketwrench: Van upkeep and being a bad*ss bassist w/ Chris Hinkley

“Going in to the writing process for this album, we knew we never wanted to make the same record twice and continue pushing ourselves to new boundaries,” Walsh says of the new album. “It’s different in the way that Connector was to Satori. That said, I think this song [“Where The Mind Wants To Go”] is a good example of the stylistic roots we’ve held onto over the years.”

The band entered the studio with 70 percent of the material already under their collective belt and recorded Where The Mind Wants To Go/Where You Let It Go during the spring in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, with two different producers, Casey Bates and Kris Crummett. The album was then mixed over the summer.

“Casey and Kris were great,” Walsh says. “Both of them let us take the lead on the project. They weren’t super hands-on—which is what we were looking for—but when they added input, it was really amazing, and we always went with whatever they suggested. It was cool; we did a lot of vocals, guitar and production stuff with Casey, and then we did the rhythm section stuff with Kris. We spent three weeks with each, so it was a six-week thing. We all enjoy the studio a lot, especially when we’re working with someone where the environment is low-pressure. We all love writing and trying things to see how they work and flow; it’s really fun. Everything worked out perfectly.”

Listen to “Where The Mind Wants To Go”:

“We’re thrilled to be sharing the third single/title-track from our new record via AP,” Walsh says. “The concept of this song began with a 'sick little day dream' I had while driving along the California coast. It's commonplace for my mind to wander about how fragile life is. Sometimes my subconscious slips into the realm of morbid curiosity, and I think about how it would take all but a slight move of my arm to send myself cascading into oblivion. There’s something about that thin red line between normalcy and mortality that has always seemed almost romantic to me. This song toys with the analogy of drifting off in thought and drifting off the road and was written at a time when I was beginning to see faults in my relationship as a splintering crack in my windshield. It's a deeply personal song for me on the record, and its writing was a form of self therapy for me at the time.”

I The Mighty have just announced a U.S. co-headlining tour with Equal Vision Records label-mates Hail The Sun.

I The Mighty tour dates:
10/21 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
10/25 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
10/26 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater
10/27 – Merriam, KS @ Aftershock Live
10/28 – St Louis, MO @ Firebird
10/30 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
10/31 – Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
11/01 – Durham, NC @ Motorco
11/03 – Brooklyn, NY @ Villain
11/04 – Boston, MA @ Middle East
11/06 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery
11/07 – Philadelphia, PA @ Voltage Lounge
11/08 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Cattivo
11/09 – Toronto, CA @ Hard Luck
11/10 – Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch
11/11 – Cleveland, OH @ The Foundry
11/12 – Chicago, IL @ Subterannean
11/14 – Dallas, TX @ RBC
11/15 – Houston, TX @ Studio Live
11/17 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
11/18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge

You can follow I The Mighty on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.