Motion City Soundtrack

Correspondingly after putting out one album on Columbia, Motion City Soundtrack are in the midst of a career renaissance as they return to their longtime label Epitaph to release Go, the most mature and developed album of their fourteen-year career. Go is their fifth album and it will be released on June 12th. The lead single from the new album is "True Romance."

Having previously worked with Ric Ocasek, Adam Schlesinger and Eli Janney, as well as Mark Hoppus, Go saw the band-which is also composed of guitarist Josh Cain, bassist Matt Taylor, drummer Tony Thaxton and keyboardist Jesse Johnson-reconvening in their home of Minnesota, to spend an extended stretch of time with producer Ed Ackerson. The result is a collection of sounds that focuses on the big questions without jepordizing any of the energy or raw emotion that has endeared Motion City Soundtrack to fans worldwide.

"I think honestly I was really obsessed with death," Pierre explains when asked about his mental space during the writing of Go. Along with entering his mid-30s, his obsession with mortality was also provoked by the passing of his grandmother. While this might seem like heady subject matter for a band who burst on the scene more than a decade ago with their pop-culture-heavy single "The Future Freaks Me Out," in reality Motion City Soundtrack have always maintained a striking dichotomy between upbeat music and darker lyricism-and Go sees the band entering the next stage of their career in a flash of brilliance. "I feel like this album is a choose your own adventure book in the sense that you can look at these songs from different angles depending on your mental state," Pierre explains, "my hope is that they will make sense to you no matter where you're at."

From the expansive-sounding, intricately arranged ballad "Everyone Will Die" to the sweetly syncopated, falsetto-fueled rager "Boxelder," Go sees Motion City Soundtrack stretching out sonically to push the limits of their sound without altering the solidly constructed foundation that it's built upon. Like all classic albums Go is teeming with happy accidents such as the guitar solo on "Son Of A Gun," which Cain originally played as a joke that the band fell in love with. "We did a lot of stuff like that," he explains, "when we had a unique moment happen we kept it and that's really what I love about this album."

Motion City Tour Dates

• Jun 12: Amoeba Records / Los Angeles, CA
• Jun 14: Casbah / San Diego, CA
• Jun 15: Troubadour / Los Angeles, CA
• Jun 16: Slim's / San Francisco, CA
• Jun 18: In the Venue / Salt Lake City, UT
• Jun 19: Bluebird Theater / Denver, CO
• Jun 21: The Firebird / St. Louis, MO
• Jun 22: Lincoln Hall / Chicago, IL
• Jun 23: River's Edge Music Festival / St. Paul, MN
• Jun 25: Grog Shop / Cleveland, OH
• Jun 26: Water Street Music Hall / Rochester, NY
• Jun 27: Union Transfer / Philadelphia, PA
• Jun 29: The Gramercy Theater / New York, NY
• Jun 30: Middle East Downstairs / Boston, MA
• Jul 1: Ottobar / Baltimore, MN
• Jul 5: Summerfest / Milwaukee, WI

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