Brand New is a band that doesn’t like to do things in any sort of traditional way, as indicated by the way the members never give interviews, make videos, or do any of the other things that bands usually do to get press. Today, though, Brand New did something especially nontraditional by essentially manufacturing the leak of a new album that—until a couple of days ago—nobody really thought would ever come out. The short version of the story (via Consequence Of Sound) is that select fans began receiving mysterious packages that contained a CD with a single 61-minute track, and when they uploaded this track to the internet, it became clear that it was an entire Brand New album.
After fans had a few hours to collectively lose their shit, Jesse Lacey and the boys decided to just cut to the chase and release the album. Titled Science Fiction, it’s Brand New’s fifth album and the first proper release since Daisy in 2009, not counting a few singles and remastered demos. Brand New has been teasing that this would be their final album for a while now, going so far as to end their recent concerts by projecting “Brand New 2000-2018” onto the stage, but it’s unclear if that’s really the plan or just more weird teasing.
You’ll have to wait until October if you want a physical copy, but you can get a digital version right now.