Yeah Yeah Yeahs announce new LP 'Cool it Down,' share "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" ft Perfume Genius

Yeah Yeah Yeahs are returning with Cool it Down, their first album in nine years, which will be out September 30 via their new label home, Secretly Canadian. (Preorder on opaque yellow vinyl.) They made it with longtime collaborator Dave Sitek, and the album title comes from The Velvet Underground’s Loaded song of the same name.

“I was having dreams, as I’m sure many people were during the early part of the pandemic and lockdown, of places I’d been,” Karen O says. “Dreams of cities we’ve toured in the last twenty years together, whether it’s Byron Bay or Paris morphed with Mexico — my brain was taking me to all these places. And I felt, for the first time, ‘what if we don’t get to do it again?’ That thought had never crossed my mind before and I really felt it profoundly during the pandemic: I realized I’d taken for granted that we’ll always be able to go out on the road and play shows, that we’ll always be able to make more music when we want to. And having gone through the collective trauma of what we experienced, I really wanted to get in a room together and jam, and see what our subconscious was going to unleash after all that time.”

Karen got together with guitarist Nick Zinner in spring of 2021 to work on new music, and she says, “We started playing music and it just came flooding out of us.” Dave Sitek had some tracks he’d earmarked for the band, too, including the music for ecologically themed first single “Spitting Off the Edge of the World.” “When I heard the opening line, it felt like a waterfall,” Karen says. “Bowie came to mind immediately. Sitek was actually friends with Bowie, and it felt like he was tuning into that frequency of artistry. And so when I was writing the lyrics and the melody, that’s who I was trying to tune into, as well. Because I’ve never tried to evoke Bowie before. But he’s gone now, and there’s a big, gaping hole.” Karen then reached out to Perfume Genius (Michael Hadreas). “Mike really has a bit of Bowie in him. He was literally the first and only person that came to mind for it.”

The video for “Spitting Off the Edge of the World,” which was previewed in Brooklyn this past weekend, was directed by Cody Critcheloe, who did the artwork for Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2003 debut album, Fever to Tell. It was shot in Kansas and features Karen O and Perfume Genius in a dementedly tricked-out limo covered in spikes and graffiti. “Perfume Genius was incredibly gracious to roll in the very cold mud as my co pilot and steal scene after scene with his surreal charm,” says Karen. “We trusted Cody implicitly, he surpassed expectations and gave us our November Rain. YYY’s spirit is alive and well through the eyes of Cody Critcheloe. Custom Yeahs limo was largely his handiwork, fueled on love.”

You can watch the “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” video, and check out Cool It Down‘s artwork and tracklist, below.

Preorder the album on opaque yellow vinyl.

Having just played their first show in three years — including four songs off the new album — Yeah Yeah Yeahs have select dates on the horizon, including big shows at NYC’s Forest Hills Stadium on 10/1 with The Linda Lindas and a “special guest TBA,” and Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl on 10/6 with Japanese Breakfast and The Linda Lindas. Before that, they’ve got UK shows and Barcelona’s Primavera Sound in June, Australian shows in July with Wet Leg, as well as appearances at Osheaga and Riot Fest. All dates are listed below.

Cool It Down:
Spitting Off the Edge of the World feat. Perfume Genius
Lovebomb
Wolf
Fleez
Burning
Blacktop
Different Today
Mars

Yeah Yeahs Yeahs – 2022 Tour Dates
June 5: O2 Apollo @ Manchester, UK [Support: English Teacher]
June 7: O2 Academy Brixton @ London, UK [Support: Dry Cleaning, Anika]
June 8: O2 Academy Brixton @ London, UK [Support: Porridge Radio, Anika]
June 11: Primavera Sound 2022 @ Barcelona, ES
July 20: Margaret Court Arena @ Melbourne, Australia [Support: Wet Leg]
July 22: Splendour in the Grass 2022 @ Yelgun, Australia
July 24: Hordern Pavilion @ Sydney, Australia [Support: Wet Leg]
July 29: Osheaga Music and Arts Festival 2022 @ Montreal, QC
September 18: Riot Fest @ Chicago, IL
October 1: Forest Hills Stadium @ New York, NY [Special Guest TBA, The Linda Linda]
October 6: Hollywood Bowl @ Los Angeles, CA [Japanese Breakfast, The Linda Lindas]