Last month, the album Viet Cong celebrated its 10th anniversary. That record was the self-titled debut from the Calgary post-punkers who later changed their name to Preoccupations. Matt Flegel and Mike Wallace started Preoccupations after the sudden, dramatic breakup of their previous band Women. (Flegel's sibling and former Women bandmate Pat is also known as Cindy Lee today, and they released one of last year's best albums.) Now, Preoccupations are getting ready to release a new LP. It's called Ill At Ease, and it's coming this spring.
The last Preoccupations album was called Arrangements, and it came out in 2022. Ill At Ease is their first for new album Born Losers, and the band will head out on a North American tour shortly after its release. "Focus," the album's lead single and opening track, is a catchy and surprisingly gothy jam with bigger, sleeker melodies than I tend to associate with this band. Here's what Matt Flegel says about it:
Focus...or the lack thereof. Shame and regret: waking up with it, not being able to sleep because of it, and finally falling asleep and having nightmares about it. I put myself a thousand years in the future with these same feelings. While having so many better things to be worried about, as the world falls apart, still finding it impossible to look past meaningless misgivings.
The well of dark things to write about seemingly has not dried up, and lyrically it’s where I still tend to draw from. Draining all my anxieties into a song is often the only way I can get through a day. Some songs exist in a world with barren plains of burnt earth, covered in a dust of shame, dread, death, where all the things I love are things that kill me. Some come from the perspective of another distant world, looking skyward into a science fiction ocean of space, solitude, slight hope. Sometimes I’m looking around at the world that we live in now with incredulity, hilariously dissatisfied with how it’s all turned out, and assuming that it can’t be long before it’s all over. Some songs are just a reflection of me looking down at my feet while I trudge along wondering what I’m doing with myself, and if the ground is going to fall out from underneath me at any given moment.
Preoccupations' video for "Focus" is full of grainy stock footage of cult leaders. Below, check out the video, the Ill At Ease tracklist, and the band's upcoming tour dates.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Focus"
02 "Bastards"
03 "Ill At Ease"
04 "Retrograde"
05 "Andromeda"
06 "Panic"
07 "Sken"
08 "Krem2"
TOUR DATES:
5/22 @ Montréal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
5/23 @ Ottawa, ON @ The 27 Club
5/24 @ Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
5/27 @ Detroit, MI @ Lager House
5/31 @ Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
6/01 @ Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry
6/04 @ Calgary, AB @ Commonwealth
6/06 @ Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall
6/07 @ Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
6/08 @ Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
6/10 @ San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
6/12 @ Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
6/13 @ San Diego, CA @ Casbah
6/17 @ Austin, TX @ Parish
6/18 @ Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
6/20 @ Nashville, TN @ The Blue Room-Third Man Records
6/21 @ Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade(Purgatory)
6/22 @ Raleigh, NC @ Kings
6/24 @ Washington, DC @ Songbyrd Record Cafe
6/25 @ Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
6/27/25 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
6/29/25 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
Ill At Ease is out 5/9 on Born Losers.
