The Armed is back with a new album, Perfect Saviors, which will be released on Aug. 25. The follow-up to 2021’s Ultrapop was produced by the Armed’s Tony Wolski with Ben Chisholm and Queens of the Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen.
The album’s first single, “Sport of Form,” is out now and features vocals from Julien Baker. The video features none other than Iggy Pop playing God.
“Too much information has made us dumb and confused,” Wolski says of the album. “Too many ways to connect have inadvertently led to isolation. And too much expectation has forced everyone to become a celebrity. Predictable primal dangers have given way to newer social ones. And the result is a world that is confounding and terrifying—but ultimately still beautiful. We hope this record is exactly all of that, too.”
On the single, Wolski adds:
“There are two types of sport—those of measure and those of form. A sport of measure like basketball, football, or soccer has a point system and a sort of binary path to victory. A sport of form is something like diving, figure skating, or bodybuilding—something with evolving standards and a layer of subjectivity and some sort of critical component.
The world that surrounds us is complex, and our lives are truly more akin to a sport of form than one of measure. Yet, so many people see it as exactly the opposite.
Lyrically, this song is about the human need to win a game that we’re not even actually playing. Sonically, it is a reflection of that cognitive dissonance through a constant whiplash between beauty and ugliness, severity and tenderness, obscenity and grace.”
Perfect Saviors features an impressive list of additional contributors, including Sarah Tudzin, Mark Guiliana, Josh Klinghoffer, Patrick Shiroishi, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and many more.
The Armed will open for Queens of the Stone Age beginning in August, with headline dates getting underway in October.
The Armed’s Perfect Saviors tracklisting:
1. Sport Of Measure
2. FKA World
3. Clone
4. Modern Vanity
5. Everything’s Glitter
6. Burned Mind
7. Sport Of Form
8. Patient Mind
9. Vatican Under Construction
10. Liar 2
11. In Heaven
12. Public Grieving
The Armed 2023 tour dates:
Supporting Queens of the Stone Age:
8/3/23 Sterling Heights, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre
8/4/23 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage
8/5/23 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
8/7/23 Bridgeport, CT Hartford HealthCare Amp
8/8/23 Philadelphia, PA TD Pavilion at the Mann
8/9/23 Washington, DC The Anthem
8/11/23 Portland, ME Cross Insurance Arena
8/12/23 Queens, NY Forest Hills Tennis Stadium
8/14/23 Washington, DC The Anthem
8/15/23 Raleigh, NC The Red Hat Amphitheater
8/16/23 Asheville, NC Rabbit Rabbit
8/18/23 Atlanta, GA Fox Theater
8/19/23 Nashville, TN Ascend Amphitheater
Headline Dates
10/19/23 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey ^
10/21/23 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall ^
10/23/23 Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall ^
10/24/23 Seattle, WA @ Neumos ^
11/16/23 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club*
11/18/23 Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage*
12/15/23 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall✝
12/16/23 Chicago, IL @ Metro✝
^ Shutups
*SPACED
✝ Model/Actriz
