Motion City Soundtrack announce first album in 10 years, share “She Is Afraid”

Motion City Soundtrack have announced their first album in 10 years, The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World, due out September 19 via Epitaph. The album was produced by Sean O’Keefe, who MCS worked with a couple times in the early/mid 2000s, and it also reunites the band with Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump (who sang on their biggest hit, “Everything Is Alright”) on the song “Particle Physics” and features two other cool guests: Citizen’s Mat Kerekes (on “Your Days Are Numbered”) and Sincere Engineer’s Deanna Belos (on “Things Like This”).

“I think that if you look at a lot of our past records, it’s about ‘What’s wrong? What am I not getting right? Why do I feel fucking crazy? Why can’t I figure this out’… and I figured it out,” says singer/guitarist Justin Pierre. “It’s almost like I felt I didn’t have an identity [in the past] and now by working through the hard stuff, I know who I am.”

The first single is “She Is Afraid,” an undeniable power pop anthem that Justin says takes influence from Del the Funky Homosapien, that dog., and Faith No More. He explains:

As soon as I heard Josh’s bonkers guitar part, I flipped out. I don’t know how he does it. I’d been listening to a lot of Del the Funky Homosapien around the time of writing the lyrics, and I think his influence comes out a bit in the verses (but hopefully in a way that doesn’t sound totally derivative). I think the rest of the tune owes a debt of gratitude to That Dog for sure. Matt mentioned he hears some Faith No More in the tune, which is always a good sign, and now I hear it too. Hell, I learned how to be weird on stage watching Mike Patton on the You Fat Bastards (Live At The Britton Academy London) videocassette as a teenager in ‘90/‘91. I wore that shit out.

Check out the song and its Jesse Cain-directed video below.

Motion City Soundtrack will celebrate the album announcement and new single with a small, sold-out NYC show tonight (6/17) at Mercury Lounge, followed by a slightly larger NJ show at The Stone Pony on Wednesday (6/18). They also play Milwaukee’s Summerfest and Saint Paul’s Minnesota Yacht Club Festival.

Tracklist
1. Some Wear a Dark Heart
2. She Is Afraid
3. Particle Physics (feat. Patrick Stump)
4. You Know Who the Fuck We Are
5. Melancholia
6. Your Days Are Numbered (feat. Mat Kerekes)
7. Downer
8. Mi Corazón
9. Bloodline
10. Things Like This (feat. Sincere Engineer)
11. The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World

Motion City Soundtrack — 2025 Tour Dates
June 17 – New York, NYC – Mercury Lounge
June 18 – Asbury Park, NJ – The Stone Pony
June 27th – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
July 19 – Saint Paul, MN – Minnesota Yacht Club Festival