We Are Scientists announce new album 'Qualifying Miles'

Photo: Sari Murray

Indie rock stalwarts We Are Scientists have announced their ninth studio album 'Qualifying Miles', set for release on the 18th July via Groenland Records. With nearly two decades under their belt since their breakout, the New York City duo—Keith Murray and Chris Cain—continue to evolve, this time channelling their formative years with a nostalgic nod to the ’90s guitar-driven music that shaped them.

A return to roots with fresh intent, 'Qualifying Miles' blends the band’s signature dancefloor-friendly riffs and razor-sharp wit with the textured emotion of their earliest influences. “It’s the sound of a band revisiting their roots while interrogating the distance they have traveled,” reads the album’s statement—and longtime fans will hear just that.

Lead single 'Please Don’t Say It' is an anthemic shot of hook-laden melancholy with all the charm, honesty, and melodic magnetism the band is known for. Speaking on the track, Keith Murray shares: “I’m always happy to spew all kinds of drama in song, just don’t make me talk about it in person, okay? ‘Please Don’t Say It’ is, I guess, a song about being unwilling to confront my glitches anywhere but in that very song. Except, now I’m talking here about using the song to not talk about it. Weird.”

The single arrives alongside a new video drenched—literally—in fog. “You know what we haven’t explored enough in our many years of video media creation? Fog,” says Keith. “We’ve had loads of haze, a little light steam… but this is our most sensually befogged song yet.”

Watch the video for 'Please Don’t Say It' and see the album's full tracklisting below.

'Qualifying Miles' Tracklist:

1. A Prelude to What

2. Starry-Eyed

3. Dead Letters

4. The Big One

5. Please Don’t Say It

6. The Same Mistake

7. What You Want Is Gone

8. A Lesson I Never Learned

9. I Could Do Much Worse

10. I Already Hate This

11. At the Mall in My Dreams

12. Promise Me