Yeah Yeah Yeahs Confront the Climate Catastrophe on First Song in Nine Years ‘Spitting Off the Edge of the World’
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are back with their first new song in nearly a decade, “Spitting Off the Edge of the World,” the first offering from their upcoming album, Cool It Down, out Sept. 30 via Secretly Canadian.
“Spitting Off the Edge of the World” is a smoldering cut that finds Karen O sharing vocal duties with Perfume Genius, their voices combining as the song builds to a massive peak filled with crashing drums and keening guitar riffs. The track — produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek — also arrives with a music video starring Karen O and Perfume Genius, and directed by longtime YYYs collaborator Cody Critcheloe (a.k.a. Ssion).
In a statement, O said, “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” was inspired in part by the looming climate catastrophe. “I see the younger generations staring down this threat, and they’re standing on the edge of a precipice, confronting what’s coming with anger and defiance,” she said. “It’s galvanizing, and there’s hope there.”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs first teased their long-awaited return at the beginning of May, announcing a pair of shows in New York City (Oct. 1) and Los Angeles (Oct. 6), while also promising new music. Cool It Down — a title borrowed, O noted, from the Velvet Underground’s Loaded deep cut of the same name — is the band’s fifth studio effort and first since 2013’s Mosquito.
“To all who have waited, our dear fans, thank you, our fever to tell has returned, and writing these songs came with its fair share of chills, tears, and euphoria when the pain lifts and truth is revealed,” O said of the album. “Don’t have to tell you how much we’ve been going through in the last nine years since our last record, because you’ve been going through it too, and we love you and we see you, and we hope you feel the feels from the music we’ve made. No shying away from the feels, or backing down from what’s been gripping all of us these days.”
Along with their New York City and Los Angeles shows later this year, Yeah Yeah Yeahs will also perform at Riot Fest in Chicago on Sept. 18 and the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival in Montreal on July 29. The group has a handful of U.K., European, and Australian gigs scheduled over the summer as well.