On “I’ve Got Reason,” Mikal Cronin Orients Himself in an Alien World

California garage rocker Mikal Cronin has shared “I’ve Got Reason” the final single ahead of the release of his fourth album, Seeker, at the end of this month. The song lets it rip with a fuzzed-out chaos that’s wonderfully sloppy—with a psychedelic music video adding to the madness.

“I’ve Got Reason” is undoubtedly the heaviest of Cronin’s new releases. While “Shelter” works soaring strings into its beautiful arrangement, “I’ve Got Reason” strips away the frills. The single feels straight out of the garage, with a minimal guitar, bass and drum formula.

“This song runs through a mess of confusing interactions in a world that gets stranger all the time,” says Cronin. “Musically it’s got some Beatles and some Nirvana, with a bendy mellotron line that helps tie the worlds together.” Cronin doesn’t mask the song’s influences, with flashes of “Dear Prudence” in the verse and Kurt Cobain-esque rawness in the overdriven chorus.

The video for “I Got Reason” features scenes of nature distorted by a vintage overlay saturating the images with bursts of color. Like the famous “Star Gate” sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey, these natural landscapes lose their familiarity when their colors are shifted, creating a planet that verges on alien. As Cronin sings in the chorus, “I’ve got reason to believe / it’s not like the way it seems.”

Cronin will be heading out on his North American tour the same day that Seeker drops—Oct. 25. The album is available for preorder here. You can check out “I’ve Got Reason” below and find Cronin’s tour dates further down.

Mikal Cronin Tour Dates:

October
25 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Teragram Ballroom

November
06 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Independent
08 – Portland, Ore. @ Mississippi Studios
09 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Fox Cabaret
10 – Seattle, Wash. @ Tractor Tavern
11 – Missoula, Mont. @ The Badlander
14 – Saint Paul, Minn. @ Turf Club
15 – Chicago, lll. @ Lincoln Hall
16 – Detroit, Mich. @ Deluxx Fluxx
17 – Toronto, Ont. @ Horseshoe Tavern
18 – Montreal, Qué. @ Bar Le Ritz
19 – Boston, Mass. @ Great Scott
20 – New York, N.Y. @ Bowery Ballroom
22 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Underground Arts
23 – Washington, D.C. @ U Street Music Hall
24 – Durham, N.C. @ Motorco Music Hall
25 – Atlanta, Ga. @ The Earl
26 – New Orleans, La. @ One Eyed Jacks
27 – Austin, Texas @ Barracuda
30 – Tucson, Ariz. @ 191 Toole

December
01 – San Diego, Calif. @ Casbah

February 2020
10 – Munich, Germany @ Milla
11 – Cologne, Germany @ Bumann & SOHN
12 – Berlin, Germany @ Kantine am Berghain
13 – Aarhus, Denmark @ TAPE
14 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Loppen
15 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Nalen
17 – Oslo, Norway @ Ingensteds
18 – Gothenburg, Sweden @ Oceanen
19 – Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow (SkyBar)
20 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet
21 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
22 – Paris, France @ Petit Bain
24 – Bristol, U.K. @ The Louisiana
25 – London, U.K. @ Moth Club
26 – Manchester, U.K. @ Soup Kitchen
27 – Glasgow, U.K. @ The Hug & Pint
28 – Leeds, U.K. @ Brudenell Social Club
29 – Brighton, U.K. @ The Hope & Ruin