Superchunk is set to release their angriest record yet, What a Time to Be Alive, on Feb. 16 via Merge Records. You can watch the lyric video for the title track above.

"There’s a lot to talk about right now that is occupying our minds, and it feels like a good time to yell about it," bassist Laura Ballance told the AV Club. "It’s not a time when I think any artist can afford the luxury of staying politically neutral, in order to maintain their fanbase. I feel like what’s happening is more important than that."

Nonetheless, frontman Mac McCaughan says calling What a Time to Be Alive a political record may be misleading. "It implies that you are offering some solutions or that you’re writing a white paper, like, 'Here’s what we should do about this,'" he said. "Where it’s really more about how do you be a person in the world when all this is going on and still have a life, and I think a lot of people are learning that."

What a Time to Be Alive was mixed by Beau Sorenson, and features a host of backing vocals by Sabrina Ellis, Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt, Skylar Gudasz and David Bazan.

The album is available pre-order now on the band's website. Superchunk will also be hitting the road for a North American tour as they release this album, their 12th following 2013's I Hate Music. You can find the track listing and upcoming tour dates below.

'What A Time To Be Alive' Track Listing
“What a Time to Be Alive”
“Lost My Brain”
“Break the Glass”
“Bad Choices”
“Dead Photographers”
“Erasure”
“I Got Cut”
“Reagan Youth”
“Cloud of Hate”
“All For You”
“Black Thread”

U.S. Tour Dates
Feb. 15 — Baltimore, Maryland — Ottobar
Feb. 17 — Richmond, Virginia — The Broadberry
Feb. 21 — San Diego, California—The Casbah
Feb. 22 — Los Angeles, California — The Moroccan Lounge
Feb. 23 — Los Angeles, California — The Teragram Ballroom
Feb. 24 — San Francisco, California — Great American Music Hall at Noise PopFestival
Feb. 26 — Portland, Oregon — Mississippi Studios
Feb. 27 — Seattle, Washington — Neumos
Feb. 28 — Vancouver, B.C. — Rickshaw Theatre
April 3 — Washington, D.C. — Black Cat
April 4 — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Union Transfer
April 6 — Cambridge, Massachusetts — The Sinclair
April 7-8 — New York, New York — Bowery Ballroom
April 6 — Atlanta, Georgia — Terminal West
April 7 — Carrboro, North Carolina — Cat’s Cradle
 
 

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