Dr. Dog today announced their self-titled new album—and first LP in six years—will be released on July 19th, 2024. They’ve also shared its irresistible, feel-good lead single “Talk Is Cheap,” alongside a Wyndham Garnett-directed video featuring behind-the-scenes footage of the band, captured during the album’s recording sessions. Graced with jangling grooves, the single is a love song written by bassist Toby Leaman. “It’s a song about my wife and how much I rely on her, how she’s always there for me,” he explains. “It’s funny because I’m not a big love-song guy, but everything I wrote on this album is for her.” “Talk Is Cheap”—which follows last month’s standalone single and additional album track, “Still Can’t Believe”—is a fitting introduction to the record, embodying the essence of Dr. Dog: a collection that stays true to the band’s ever-eclectic and animated spirit, shifting from soul to surf-rock to symphonic pop with an exuberance made all the more impactful by their revitalized creative energy. Its video is a heartfelt, organic peek into their reborn methods of making music together: spontaneous, kinetic and perfectly imperfect. Dr. Dog is now available for pre-order HERE.
For more than two decades, Dr. Dog have maintained a shared devotion to the unruly alchemy of making music. When it came time to create their 11th studio album, the Philadelphia-bred band adopted an entirely new way of working together, embracing a multilayered process designed to foster an even deeper synergy among its five members (Leaman, lead guitarist Scott McMicken, rhythm guitarist Frank McElroy, keyboardist Zach Miller, and drummer Eric Slick). Dr. Dog began their journey with a close-knit session at Leaman’s uncle’s cabin (featured here in the “Talk Is Cheap” video), and steadily made their way toward the joyfully unfettered psych-rock of their new self-titled LP. Dr. Dog reveals a band–over twenty years into their storied career–growing together and evolving, fully committed to the singular work of dreaming up songs that brighten the mind and expand the soul.
Mixed by multi-Grammy-winner Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Drive-By Truckers), Dr. Dog finds McMicken taking the helm as producer for the first time in the history of the decidedly egalitarian band. “I moved to Asheville a while back and built a little yard-shed studio that’s changed my whole perspective on music,” he says. “Because you’re in a shed, there’s no pretense that what’s happening is very serious—but over time, that sense of playfulness ends up allowing for more serious things to happen. When we started planning this new album, it felt right to try to merge my universes and make a Dr. Dog record the same way I was making records every day in my backyard.”
Dr. Dog Tracklist:
1. Authority
2. Lost Ones
3. Fat Dog
4. Talk Is Cheap
5. What a Night’ll Do
6. Tell Your Friends
7. Still Can’t Believe
8. Fine White Lies
9. White Dove
10. Handyman
11. Love Struck
