Last year, Brooklyn trio Proper. released a new Bartees Strange-produced single, "Red, White, and Blue," and now they've announced a new album, The Great American Novel, also produced by Bartees and due March 25 via Father/Daughter and Big Scary Monsters (pre-order).
Along with the announcement comes new single "Milk and Honey," and this one's a lot different than the previous single. "Red, White, and Blue" was a political punk ripper that took cues from Paramore and At the Drive In, while "Milk and Honey" is a sweeping, climactic, indie rock song that sounds closer to classic Broken Social Scene (with horns by Jer Hunter of Skatune Network/We Are The Union and backing vocals by Long Neck's Lily Mastrodimos). "You're taught early on that having children is the ultimate end goal in life," vocalist/guitarist Erik Garlington says about the song. "I knew from a young age that being a family man wasn't appealing to me but it was drilled into my head I'd change my mind once I settled down. Now that I'm almost 31, it's finally settling in for my parents that I won't be the one to pass on our family name. There's a mixed feeling of bitterness, relief and quite a bit of feeling selfish that comes with a conversation like that." Listen and watch the video (directed by Erik) below.