Listen to new single from Halloween, Alaska

We may be in the middle of a sincere and irony-free ’80s nostalgia wave at the moment, (Bon Iver, we’re looking at you—and we really do apologize, to everyone, for bringing you up yet again), but the members of Twin Cities-based rockers Halloween, Alaska have always had an interest in mining the lush sounds of New Romantic-era ambient pop to make records that manage to be at once deeply heartfelt and also sonically a bit traumatic. Who could forget the eerie minimalist crawl of the feedback-laced Sade cover from last year? 

The latest album from Halloween, Alaska is called All Night The Calls Came In, and while the band promises a more stripped-down approach on this go-round, lead single “Dance By Accident” still maintains many of the band’s same darkly melodic textures and frontman James Diers’ hazy vocal hooks, only this time giving nods to the less-cool fixtures of the ’80s, like Phil Collins and Steve Winwood. Backed by a spare set of drum pads, “Dance” is by all means a little surrealist, filled with lines like “gonna try to digitize the trophy case” and “I follow a wolf named spirit guide,” but it’s also indescribably catchy, riding its jangly guitar groove all the way until the song starts to sound like it wants to collapse on itself near the end.

Take a listen to “Dance By Accident” below. The band’s upcoming fourth album is available for digital download on August 30th and in physical format on September 20th.