The Philadelphia band Caracara released their very impressive Better EP earlier this year — we interviewed them about it when it came out — and today they’re back with a new song, hopefully an indication of things to come. Perhaps a follow-up to their 2017 debut album, Summer Megalith, which is getting issued on vinyl for the first time ever this fall while they’re on an extensive North American tour.

“Dark Bells” was produced by Will Yip, the Philly wizard who was also behind the boards for their Better EP, and he pulls together a lot of unwieldy parts: heavy rocking gives way to a rubbery synth which morphs into a skeletal frame. As with most Caracara songs, heady lyrics are complemented by an immediate rush. “Saw a stranger on the sidewalk/ Summoning a swarm of bees,” William Lindsay conjures a picture here. “With a child upon his shoulders/ And new eschatology.”

“I had been reading about how industrialization brought about the relevance of keeping track of time as people moved from farms to factories. Ringing bells in factory towns dictated people’s every move long before anyone cared to know specifically what time it was,” Lindsay said in a statement about the song. They continue:

I think we’re still stuck in a similar system. We know what time it is but we’re still essentially governed by bells, only now they’re in our pocket and probably on vibrate. I wanted to write something about the enduring concept of being beholden to a new technology.

Listen below.

“Dark Bells” is out now. The band are putting their debut album, Summer Megalith, on vinyl for the first time — you can pre-order that here. Check out a list of their upcoming tour dates here and here.