The Naked and Famous Announce Album, Release Single “Higher”

The Naked and Famous have been posting some odd images on Twitter over the last couple of weeks. The images portray a bleeding hand, a rose and a porcelain figurine, all in bold red and blue tones, teasing the word “Higher.” Last night, the electro-pop band posted a lyric video for the lead single “Higher” from their new album, Simple Forms, which incorporated the images.

The images that invoke fragility and pain make sense when you listen to the lyrics such as the chorus: “Raise our voices higher, higher / tonight we raise the dead, tonight we bury this in fire, fire.” The song is most definitely referential to the romantic split of band vocalist Alisa Xayalith and vocalist/guitarist Thom Powers, a break-up that almost decimated the entire five-piece band.

“It’s been two years since we came off the road and a lot of life has happened in and all around us,” Xayalith said about the track to Consequence of Sound. “We’ve been broken here and picked ourselves up again—so maybe this chorus talks a little to that experience … love, grief, time passing and returning to a place where we are lucky to have each other.”

Simple Forms will be released on Oct. 14 via the band’s own label, Somewhat Damaged with Kobalt Label Services. It will be their third studio album following 2010’s Passive Me, Aggressive You and 2013’s In Rolling Waves. The Naked and Famous are also heading out on lengthy North American tour this fall, including a stretch of performances at Austin City Limits in October. See the full list of dates here and watch the lyric video for “Higher” below, plus Paste Cloud audio of the band’s 2012 Daytrotter session.