MUSE share details of new album and release new single ‘Compliance’

March 21, 2022

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Muse’s new music video was inspired by the movie Looper

The uncertainty is over. We now know the release date and tracklist of the new album by Muse. The record, titled Will Of The People, is due out August 26 via Warner Records. Muse have also launched their new single, ‘Compliance’, accompanied by a music video (see below).

The British trio re-appeared on the music scene in January this year with the track ‘Won’t Stand Down’, the first taste of their upcoming ninth studio album. Sonically, scream-infused ‘Won’t Stand Down’ was so atypical of Muse that it undoubtedly set the bar for the whole album.

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Singer Matt Bellamy opened up that the new record was “influenced by the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world” and called it “a personal navigation through those fears”:

“A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests & riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilization of the global order all informed Will Of The People. It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long are genuinely threatened.”

“This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for what comes next,” adds frontman Matt Bellamy.

The new single, ‘Compliance’, the video for which was filmed in Poland and inspired by the movie Looper, looks at misleading “truths” of those in power. Politicians always resort to comforting notions of “safety and reassurance”, striving to make us all obedient and void of independent thought, the musicians say:

“Compliance is about the promise of safety and reassurance sold to us by powerful entities during times of vulnerability,” Muse explain. “Gangs, governments, demagogues, social media algorithms & religions seduce us with misleading untruths and comforting fables. They want us to join their narrow worldview in exchange for obedience and turning a blind eye to our own internal voice of reason & compassion. They just need our Compliance.”

You can catch Muse on a number of European festivals this summer, including Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds and Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival. Some fans also suspect Muse are planning a surprise show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire soon, as graffiti and stickers with the album monogram have been popping up in and around the SBE area.

Be sure to order the new album at this location and see the tracklist below.