The Flaming Lips have announced The Teardrop Throbs, their first all-new album in six years and their debut on Third Man Records. It arrives Friday, January 22, 2027, and the first single, "God Will Control The Werewolves," is out today.
The record
The Teardrop Throbs runs 13 tracks, from the short opener "Throb" to a closing instrumental called "Now I Understand." Third Man will release it on black vinyl, a limited "Teardrop Blue" vinyl pressing, compact disc (CD) and streaming, with pre-orders open now at the label's store and through the band's own Flaming Lips shop.
The label pitches it as lush arrangements, exquisite production and songwriting distilled over time. Third Man also points to Wayne Coyne moving from poignant and direct on "Every Teardrop Cried" to melancholy on "The Trees Are Getting Their Leaves." Fans of the 2002 album Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots will spot track 11, "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell Part Two." Coyne says it is not the same song but a new rendering that deals with ego death, status and power.
God Will Control The Werewolves
Coyne wrote a long track-by-track note to go with the announcement, and it is the best way into the album. The single started as a story about him and his two sons, Bloom and Rex, playing hide and seek in a park as it got dark under a full moon. With the full moon on their minds, talk turned to werewolves, and Coyne told the boys God would control the werewolves for a little bit while they played. The way he heard it in his head, he says, was Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon with Syd Barrett still in the band.
The song is credited to Coyne, Taylor Johnson, Matthew Kirksey and Derek Brown.
How it was made
Coyne describes a two-year process that began in a grocery store parking lot, with his younger son, Rex, asleep in the back seat. Much of the record circles the feeling he had that day: that nothing in his life will ever matter as much as his two boys.
The details are pure Flaming Lips. "Throb" grew out of new slide guitarist Adam Judd Slaughter, known as A.J., replaying the "Pretty Fly" song from the film The Night of the Hunter note for note. "Titan" started as a menacing home recording by bassist Tommy, picked up Mellotron flutes, then took off after Perry Farrell texted Coyne a short poem about jumping lightly between lily pads. "You've Got Brain Damage" began as a droning chord progression Coyne heard on A.J.'s own Bandcamp album. Later, working with Dave Fridmann, the band cut a few minutes from the end of "You See You In Me" to keep the song alive.
Two nights in five cities
The band will introduce the album with intimate two-night stands. The band pre-sale starts Wednesday, October 28 at 10 AM local time, local pre-sales follow Thursday, October 29, and the general on-sale is Friday, October 30 at 10 AM local. Dates and tickets are on the official Flaming Lips tour page.
- January 22 and 23: Nashville, Tennessee, Brooklyn Bowl
- January 26 and 27: New York, Irving Plaza
- February 23 and 24: Los Angeles, The Bellwether
- February 27 and 28: Chicago, Metro
- April 2 and 3: London, O2 Shepherds Bush
Our call
This one is Surfacing. A band formed in Oklahoma City in 1983 landing on an independent label this late, with a sequel to a Yoshimi song and a Perry Farrell assist, is the kind of left turn that gets old fans paying attention again. Start with "God Will Control The Werewolves," then put the January 22 date in your calendar.
Third Man has done careful vinyl work before: read about the Loretta Lynn and Jack White Van Lear Rose reissue. If the Teardrop Blue pressing is headed to your shelf, start with our best turntables for beginners, and for something slower and stranger, try William Basinski's Passing the Cup of Sorrows.
Pre-order or pre-save The Teardrop Throbs · Listen to God Will Control The Werewolves · The Flaming Lips · Third Man Records
