Last year, the experimental pop quartet CHAI seemed to be gearing up for a new release. Amidst announcing that they’d signed to Sub Pop, they unveiled a handful of singles across 2020. Now, they’re back with the official news: Their third album is called WINK, and it’ll be out in May.

The album is touted as showing a mellower, subtler side of CHAI, partially influenced by them working on the songs in Garageband and trading ideas remotely during lockdown last year. (They’re also name-checking aesthetic inspirations like Brockhampton, Mac Miller, and the Internet.) “A person who winks is a person with a pure heart, who lives with flexibility, who does what they want,” the band said in a statement. “A person who winks is a person who is free. With this album, we’re winking at you. We’re living freely and we hope that when you listen, you can wink and live freely, too.”

It turns out we’ve already heard a track from the album, “Donuts Mind If I Do.” That seemed to hint at the new direction of WINK, and CHAI’s new single “ACTION” travels similar territory, despite it being a response to the Black Lives Matter protests of last year. “Seeing how the world came together during the protests really moved me,” YUUKI said in a statement. “I wanted to dedicate that song to the year of action.” The band added:

The world as we know it has changed, but even with that, it’s still a world where nothing really changes. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there more ACTION rooted in happiness? Be the change that you want to see!…I’m going to be the pioneer in seeing the world I want to see, meeting the people I want to meet! We start off by expressing the fun in ACTION with this music video♡ Why don’t you join us?! It’s that type of song♡.

Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Donuts Mind If I Do”
02 “Maybe Chocolate Chips (Feat. Ric Wilson)”
03 “ACTION”
04 “END”
05 “PING PONG! (Feat. YMCK)”
06 “Nobody Knows We Are Fun”
07 “It’s Vitamin C”
08 “IN PINK (Feat. Mndsgn)”
09 “KARAAGE”
10 “Miracle”
11 “Wish Upon A Star”
12 “Salty”

WINK is out 5/21 via Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.