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Aug 21, 2018 By Christopher Roberts We Were Promised Jetpacks

Scotland’s We Were Promised Jetpacks are releasing a new album, The More I Sleep the Less I Dream, on September 14. Previously they shared its first single, “Hanging In” (which was one of our Songs of the Week). Now they have shared another song from the album, “Repeating Patterns,” via a video for the song. Mathew Marchlewski directed the video, which stars sock puppets. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

We Were Promised Jetpacks’ Sean Smith had this to say about the video in a press release: “‘Repeating Patterns’ is one of the first songs we wrote for this album. It’s been getting a great reception at our shows for over a year and has become a really important song for us. Our goal when recording was to not tame it and keep it as raw and raucous as it is live. We only first saw the video a few days ago and we absolutely love it. Thanks to Mathew Marchlewski, Adam Keene, Poppy Garcia & Ashley Spencer for making such a perfect video. We hope everyone enjoys listening to it as much as we enjoy playing it.”

In the U.S., The More I Sleep the Less I Dream will be self-released by the band and Big Scary Monsters will be releasing it in Europe. The album was recorded in early 2018 with producer Jonathan Low (The National, Sufjan Stevens, Kurt Vile, The War on Drugs) at Minor Street in Philadelphia and Long Pond in New York’s Hudson Valley. Prior to that it took them awhile to write the right songs.

“The first batch of songs were written for the wrong reason,” guitarist Michael Palmer explained in a previous press release. “We put a lot of pressure on ourselves and ended up writing a certain kind of song. Focusing more on choruses and structure, trying to simplify everything.”

Vocalist/guitarist Adam Thompson added: “We scrapped probably a full album. Something just felt off about them. They didn’t work at all.”

The band regrouped and rewrote, with almost title track “The More I Sleep, The Less I Dream” being one of the first songs to truly work. “All of the songs we scrapped were very calculated, whereas this song just flowed. It was instinctive. That gave us the confidence to believe that we could actually do this, just the four of us,” said Palmer in the press release. “After that everything else just clicked.”

The previous press release described the album as such: “The More I Sleep The Less I Dream marks a new chapter in We Were Promised Jetpacks’ career. It’s about going back to the heart of who they are, a high school band that never stopped. It’s about four people who have grown up together, making a conscious choice to keep writing music and seeing where that takes them.”

The band’s last full-length was 2014’s Unraveling. A previous press release laid out what the band has been up to since then: “Having spent 10 years almost consistently writing and touring, it was time to decamp home to Scotland and take a breath. They reverted back to their original four members and dealt with several behind the scenes changes. They celebrated a few marriages and tried to remember who they were when not on the road.”

Also read our 2014 interview with the band or the guest blog post guitarist Michael Palmer wrote for us in 2014 on professional wrestling.

We Were Promised Jetpacks Tour Dates:

09.19 - Portland, ME @ Portland City Music Hall
09.20 - Porstmouth, NH @ 3S Artspace
09.21 - Montreal, QC @ Bar Le “Ritz” P.D.B.
09.22 - Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
09.23 - Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
09.25 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
09.26 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
09.27 - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater
09.28 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
09.29 - Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium
10.01 - Billings, MT @ The Pub Station
10.02 - Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett
10.03 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos
10.04 - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
10.05 - Bellingham, WA @ The Wild Buffalo
10.06 - Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
10.08 - Chico, CA @ The Big Room
10.09 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
10.11 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
10.12 - San Diego, CA @ Irenic
10.13 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom
10.15 - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
10.16 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk
10.17 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
10.18 - New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues - The Parish
10.19 - Chattanooga, TN @ Songbirds
10.20 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
10.22 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
10.23 - Washington, DC @ 930 Club
10.24 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes
10.26 - Allston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
10.27 - Philadelphia, PA @ Foundry
10.28 - Lancaster, PA @ Chameleon Club
10.29 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
11.14 - Aberdeen, UK @ The Lemon Tree
11.15 - Glasgow, UK @ Saint Luke’s
11.18 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
11.19 - Manchester, UK @ The Deaf Institute
11.21 - London, UK @ Bush Hall
11.22 - Luxembourg City, LU @ Rotondes
11.23 - Hamburg, DE @ Molotow
11.24 - Berlin, DE @ Lido
11.26 - Vienna, AT @ Chelsea
11.27 - Graz, AT @ Postgarage
11.28 - Munich, DE @ Ampere
11.29 - Heidelberg, DE @ Karlstorbahnhof
11.30 - Cologne, DE @ Luxor
12.1 - Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet

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