Stream Alkaline Trio’s New Surprise EP

Stream Alkaline Trio’s New Surprise EP

God bless all the bands currently releasing music because they’re stuck at home with nothing else to do. For instance: The muscular Chicago pop-punk veterans Alkaline Trio were supposed to head out on a a co-headlining tour with Bad Religion soon. (Frontman Matt Skiba is the guy who replaced Tom DeLonge in Blink-182, so Alkaline Trio tours aren’t happening too often these days.) That obviously won’t happen now. So Alkaline Trio, who’d been teasing new music anyway, have just gone ahead and dropped their new three-song EP — creatively title E.P. — out into the world.

Two of the three new tracks on E.P. are the same kind of weary, polished, hooks-everywhere music that Alkaline Trio have basically been making forever. For those of us who harbor exceedingly warm feelings regarding From Here To Infirmary, it’s powerfully comforting to hear Skiba bellowing about emotional difficulties over soaringly chunky guitars. The real gem here, though, is the acoustic closing track “Smokestack,” which just slaps.

In a press release, Skiba says, “With the tour postponed and the current state of the world, we feel and hope that some new music will help people transcend the uncertainty and possible fear they might be feeling, if even for a few minutes. Music has always had a way of helping us all cope with unpleasant times. We can only hope that ours can do the same for our fans on some level. We hope you enjoy the songs.” Stream the EP below.

E.P. is out now on Epitaph. You can preorder the 7″ version here.

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