Photo by Martin

La Dispute haven’t released a new album properly since 2019’s Panorama, and no surprise, it was another solid outing from the experimental post-hardcore band. They’re without a doubt one of the most consistent bands from that scene of the last two decades, but as goes with everything in time, you always worry that your favs might eventually reach a point where they’re still good at what they do, but start running out of gas with new ideas. Don’t hold your breath that La Dispute have reached that point in their careers just yet. Making you curse the highly over-saturated new music promotional cycle by dropping not one, not two, but three new tracks at once as “the first act” to introduce their forthcoming fifth studio effort, No One Was Driving the Car, the Grand Rapids crew at least do so with justifiable intentionality.

The concept behind it is again a grim reflection of reality’s devolution — a looming apocalypse and the role technology is playing destroying us — with Jordan Dreyer, on its highlight, shaved head-ily bursting at the neurons in sing-talking role playing of a twisted up character. What’s more interesting aren’t the grander morbid details behind La Dispute’s latest turn, however. It’s that in the time since Panorama and in leveraging their own self-produced talents to their advantage, La Dispute are aging well into a new form — something creaking into unsettling noise rock à la Shellac and the Jesus Lizard where the lack of an extra coating of studio gloss brings rawer edges to the forefront. In cutting so close to the surface, they’re sounding heavier than ever.

Directed by: Steven Paseshnik

La Dispute’s No One Was Driving The Car will be released September 5th on Epitaph Records.