Beloved Chicago quintet Post Animal announce their new album, Love Gibberish. Written, recorded, and produced entirely by the band, Love Gibberish marks their first independent release after two critically acclaimed albums with Polyvinyl. Members Dalton Allison, Jake Hirshland, Javier Reyes, Wesley Toledo, and Matthew Williams convened at Hirshland’s family farm, unpacking months of demos and grounding themselves in the same place where they first named the band. There they unlocked a new sonic language, combining classic rock grandiosity with a wash of hypermodern dream pop. “This album takes us back to how it felt before we ever thought we’d be an actual touring band, with no expectations for ourselves,” Williams says. “Now, we’re inside the gibberish-ness of life, trying to figure out what we need to survive.” 

Also out today is the winding and gorgeously atmospheric lead single, “Puppy Dog”. Of the track, the band explain, “‘Puppy Dog’ is about impending separation and how it’s hard but necessary and most loving to accept paths Y-ing off. Sometimes that reluctance to accept it can turn into resentment and this song is about not falling into that as much.” 

Post Animal returned to their own home of Chicago, splitting recording sessions between Palisade Studio, Treehouse Records Studio, and their own apartments, pulling together every resource that they could muster. “We even recorded vocals in my closet,” Allison laughs. “We had fleece blankets lining the walls for sound proofing and had to turn off the air conditioner to keep things quiet, even though it was that sweaty, steamy primetime summer in Chicago.” 

Equal parts Jon Hopkins futurist electronics and ‘80s hair metal, Love Gibberish emphasizes that limitless capacity of Post Animal, five musical minds simultaneously melded as one and stretching to the ends of their constellation of influences and ideas. “The record is all about the duality that exists within us, these different pieces of wisdom that we have to try to put together and the confusion that comes with it,” Toledo says. “You can reflect on your younger self or you can look forward to your future, you can strive to be more mature or you can see the value of youth. But the only way to make it through it all is to anchor yourself in this loving essence, and we wanted the album to showcase that.”

The band brought their singular brand of widescreen, prog-infused pop to the festival circuit last year, performing at Outside Lands, Levitation, and Lollapalooza. Now the band announces a long-awaited headline tour. Tickets go on sale this Friday—see below to find a show near you, grab your tickets HERE and act fast because their latest gig in Chicago sold out in under 30 minutes.

Photo Courtesy: Sofiah Yates