As veteran indie rockers Superchunk gear up for the release of their 12th studio album, Wild Loneliness (out Feb. 25 on Merge), their first in four years, they’ve shared a third song from the album, “On the Floor.” The track features backing vocals by R.E.M.’s Mike Mills and piano by Nothing Painted Blue frontman Franklin Bruno.
“The demo of ‘On the Floor’ reminded me of something from the R.E.M. album Reckoning,” frontman Mac McCaughan told Stereogum”:https://www.stereogum.com/2174444/superchunk-mac-mccaughan-wild-loneliness/interviews/qa/ of the special guests playing on the song, “so I wanted it to have piano—ably supplied by Franklin Bruno—and then luckily, we even got Mike Mills to add his distinctive voice in the harmonies.”
“On the Floor” isn’t the first preview of Wild Loneliness we’ve gotten featuring heavy-hitting guests; previous singles “Endless Summer” and “This Night” boasted musical contributions from Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley of Teenage Fanclub, and Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell and singer/songwriter Owen Pallet, respectively. Recorded in the band’s home state of North Carolina during lockdown, the album is “less about what we’ve lost in these harrowing times and more about what we have to be thankful for,” according to poet Maggie Smith (per a press release).
The band are about to kick off a North American tour, beginning on the album’s release date in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and working its way across the country until the final April show in Los Angeles. TORRES, Wednesday, Quasi and Mike Krol will be playing in support slots for a few dates each.
You can listen to “On the Floor” below, and preorder Wild Loneliness here. You can also check our 2018 ranking of every Superchunk album so far here.