Alabama Shakes ‘Dream’ Up New Album

More than a decade after Sound & Color cemented Alabama Shakes as a vital new face in rock’n’roll, the trio is officially back. The Brittany Howard-fronted group has announced its long-awaited third studio album, I Must Be Dreaming, due Aug. 28 via Island Records, alongside news that its latest single, “I Feel Hope Coming,” will arrive Friday (July 10).

Produced by the band with six-time Grammy winner Shawn Everett, I Must Be Dreaming was recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios and Blackbird Studio. The album finds Alabama Shakes pushing further into the psychedelic soul territory hinted at on Sound & Color, while exploring themes of love, mortality, human connection and the contradictions of modern life.

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Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg and bassist Zac Cockrell reunited in late 2024 after a seven-year break, allowing the songs to develop through an open-ended creative process that expanded the band’s palette with instruments including flute, harpsichord and sitar, as well as richly layered vocal arrangements.

Meanwhile, “I Feel Hope Coming” offers an optimistic counterpoint to the previously released tracks “Another Life” and “American Dream.” “This younger generation makes me feel hopeful because they can see through all the political lies — that song’s about holding onto that hope, and refusing to give up,” Howard says. Fogg adds, “I’m really happy that song exists. It came from such a joyful moment of collaboration, and exemplifies everything I love about this band being reborn.”

Howard says the album’s title reflects the tension at the heart of the record. “There’s a double meaning to it,” she explains. “It could be saying, ‘I must be dreaming, because the world is so fucking crazy right now.’ But it could also mean, ‘I must be dreaming, because the world is so incredibly beautiful.’ Both those things can be true at once.”

Alabama Shakes are in the midst of an international tour that wraps up in Europe this week and restarts July 24 in Tacoma, Wa.

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