Titus Andronicus has announced they will release their fifth LP, A Productive Cough on March 2. The band’s first album since 2015’s rock opera The Most Lamentable Tragedy is being promoted as a departure of sorts from the New Jersey punks’ roots. Focusing instead on more ballad-like songs, lead singer and creative force Patrick Stickles explains, “I’m very much trying to do a reverse Bob Dylan routine” — the album even features a cover of Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” with the pronouns changed to the first person.
“Number One (In New York)”, the lead single released Thursday, certainly fits that bill. The sprawling eight-minute song (and accompanying 10-minute video) sounds at first as thought it’s going to be nothing more than an extended piano ballad. While the song does build throughout its run, Stickles and co. eschew any hooks or even a chorus.
Titus Andronicus, A Productive Cough track list:
1. “Number One (In New York)”
2. “Real Talk”
3. “Above the Bodega (Local Business)”
4. “Crass Tattoo”
5. “(I’m) Like a Rolling Stone”
6. “Home Alone”
7. “Mass Transit Madness (Goin’ Loco’)”
