Perennial announce new album ‘Modernism’ + share lead single ‘What’s New On The Beat Scene’

Connecticut mod-punk trio Perennial are back with a announcement that’s going to have your feet moving before the album even drops. Their new LP ‘Modernism’ lands September 18 via Ernest Jenning Record Co. (US/International) and Safe Suburban Home (UK), and if the lead single is any indication, it’s going to be an absolute banger of a fall.

The band is kicking things off with What’s New On The Beat Scene, a sharp, groove-driven pop song that somehow manages to be both tightly wound and gloriously psychedelic at the same time. They went in with a Booker T. & The MGs / ‘Rubber Soul’ swing in mind, layered in fuzz bass, mellotron, and a Vox organ through a wah pedal, and walked out with something that feels like the best party you’ve ever crashed. A music video — directed, filmed, and edited by Perennial themselves alongside Kicker Pictures — is out now too.

On the making of the track, the band explains:

“‘What’s New On The Beat Scene’ was really fun because we went in with this very sharp Booker T. & The MGs / Rubber Soul groove and this big hooky chorus and then just started adding and subtracting to see what might fit. We wanted a tight, swinging pop song, but we also wanted to see how psychedelic we could make it — fuzz bass, mellotron, Vox organ through a wah pedal: you name it.“

As for the album itself, ‘Modernism’ is being pitched as the trio’s most ambitious record to date — 10 songs built from the keenest bits of The Who, The Blood Brothers, Otis Redding, Stereolab, MC5, Wilson Pickett, and Le Tigre, all filtered through the band’s deep, eccentric record collections. Mellotron loops bracket electric feedback squalls; freakbeat riffs tangle up beneath Stax/Volt hooks. Op art you can dance to. Recorded once again with longtime producer Chris Teti (The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die), ‘Modernism’ is described as their best, catchiest, and densest LP yet — and given their track record, that’s saying something.

Chad Jewett (guitar/vocals), Chelsey Hahn (organ/vocals), and Ceej Wolf (drums) have been quietly building one of punk’s most devoted international followings through relentless touring and a studio-as-instrument philosophy. ‘Modernism’ feels like a culmination of that decade-long hustle.

‘Modernism’ track list

1. Modernism
2. Perennial ’65
3. Cloak & Dagger
4. Me and The Magpie
5. Granny Smith Apple
6. The Shadow
7. What’s New On The Beat Scene
8. Baby, Are You Abstract?
9. Ready! Steady! Go!
10. Emma Peel

Pre-order ‘Modernism’ here

Tour Dates

• June 24 — Holyoke, MA — Holyoke Media (w/ Downtown Boys)
• June 25 — Philadelphia, PA — Little Big Planet
• June 26 — Pittsburgh, PA — Mr. Roboto Project
• June 27 — Cleveland, OH — The 5 O’Clock Lounge
• June 28 — Chicago, IL — The Lowdown
• June 29 — Buffalo, NY — Area 54
• June 30 — Troy, NY — No Fun
• July 24 — Somerville, MA — Nice A Fest (w/ Downtown Boys, Krill, SAD13)
• August 12 — Portland, OR — Turn! Turn! Turn!
• August 13 — Corvallis, OR — Interzone
• August 14 — Seattle, WA — Belltown Yacht Club
• August 15 — Anacortes, WA — The Business
• August 16 — Bellingham, WA — The Blue Room
• August 17 — Olympia, WA — The Mortuary
• September 16 — New Haven, CT — The Space Ballroom
• September 17 — Brooklyn, NY — Union Pool (w/ Oceanator)
• September 18 — Washington, D.C. — Comet Ping Pong
• September 19 — Boston, MA — Deep Cuts (w/ Sinaloa & Miracle Blood)
• October 8 — Oxford, UK — The Library
• October 9 — Brighton, UK
• October 10 — Liverpool, UK — Outpost
• October 11 — Leeds, UK — Grindhouse
• October 13 — Nottingham, UK — JT Soar
• October 14 — Coventry, UK — Just Dropped In
• October 15 — Manchester, UK — The Modernist
• October 16 — London, UK — The Cavendish Arms