“One problem with constantly mining your own personal life for lyrical inspiration is that you sometimes catch yourself experiencing personal interactions through the lens of your own future lyrical depiction of the moment,” says We Are Scientists vocalist and guitarist Keith Murray about the band’s emotionally raw new single, “The Big One.”

“We hear a lot about artists coping with difficult emotional experiences by hashing them out in their work; much less is said about how the anticipation of doing that artistic hashing plays in at the actual moment. Like, ‘Oh, geez, I’m in trouble now—here comes a good song!’”

He continues: “There’s a scene in Noah Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming where a couple, fresh out of undergrad, are fighting over who gets to ‘use this material in a story’,” he continues, alluding to the 1995 film. “As a referendum on artistic solipsism, it haunts me to this day. I guess ‘The Big One’ is about those moments when things go so awry that that sort of in-the-moment arm’s-length analysis is no longer a possibility. Now you’re just in it. It also has maybe my favorite guitar solo ever, so, yeah.”

“The Big One” is the final preview of Qualifying Miles, the band’s highly anticipated ninth studio album, out this Friday, July 18th, 2025 via Grönland Records. It follows a trio of emotionally rich singles that capture the band’s sharpened, guitar-forward direction and trademark lyrical wit: the aching, effervescent “Please Don’t Say It,” the shimmering, self-lacerating ballad “I Could Do Much Worse,” and “What You Want Is Gone,” a melancholic mid-tempo stunner paired with a fan-shot tour video that leans into memory, longing, and letting go.

1. A Prelude to What
2. Starry-Eyed
3. Dead Letters
4. The Big One
5. Please Don’t Say It
6. The Same Mistake
7. What You Want Is Gone
8. A Lesson I Never Learned
9. I Could Do Much Worse
10. I Already Hate This
11. At The Mall in My Dreams
12. Promise Me

Celebrating two decades of We Are Scientists, their brand new album opens on the spacey-psych ambiance of A Prelude to What and then comes the pop-rocker Starry-Eyed, the staggered rhythms of the alt-pop gem Dead Letters, the indie-imbibed The Big One and both the melodic Please Don’t Say It and the languishing beauty of The Same Mistake.

Along next is the soaring vocals and melodies of What You Want Is Gone which is backed by the heartfelt, shimmering balladry of A Lesson I Never Learned, the gripping alt-rocker I Could Do Much Worse and the low slung alt-psych of I Already Hate This, the set rounding out on the free flowing At The Mall in My Dreams, closing on the vibracious Promise Me.

Qualifying Miles is a stripped-down, emotionally expansive record that sees We Are Scientists embracing the ‘90s guitar rock influences that first lit the fuse back in their early Brooklyn days. Tracks like “Dead Letters,” “At The Mall In My Dreams” and “What You Want Is Gone” lean into themes of memory, impermanence, and the haunting weight of lost connections. But there’s levity, too - the band’s self-effacing humor and melodic swagger remain front and center.

Recorded with a “band in a room” ethos and a let-it-rip energy, Qualifying Miles finds longtime duo Keith Murray and Chris Cain pushing themselves toward something looser, louder, and more instinctive than anything they’ve done in years. For a band celebrating 20 years since their breakthrough debut With Love and Squalor, Qualifying Miles doesn’t feel like a victory lap - it feels like the start of something urgent and new.

We Are Scientists will support the release with an East Coast North American tour this fall, kicking off September 4th in Philadelphia and wrapping September 13th in Toronto.

July 30 Brooklyn, NYC Union Pool [SOLD OUT]
September 4 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
September 5 Amherst, PA The Drake
September 6 Baltimore, MD Ottobar
September 9 Columbus, OH Rumba Café
September 10 Ferndale, MI The Magic Bag
September 11 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
September 13 Toronto, ON Horseshoe Tavern

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