Last year, Saturday Looks Good To Me leader Fred Thomas released a solo album, All Are Saved. It wasn’t his first solo album, but it was his best and most fully-realized to date, a concise group of songs about heartache and nostalgia and the awkward mix of the two. It was one of our favorite albums of last year, and Thomas already has another one ready to go: It’s called Changer, and it’s all about cycles of maturation and stunted development, and it’s out on 1/27. The album as a whole sees him experimenting with more electronic elements — Minim, his collection of song fragments and demos from earlier this year will give you some idea of what that sounds like — but lead single “Brickwall” is classic Thomas, a scratchy and passionate musing on growing up.

“You don’t really talk to him now/ He’s just a costume you once wore/ You don’t really talk to him now/ Don’t think about him ’til you’re falling on the floor,” Thomas sings, talking about parts of himself that he’s lost touch with somewhere along the line and can only tap into in his darkest moments. As the song moves along, its scope expands to encompass groups of old friends that you aren’t in contact with regularly, conversations only sparked up occasionally to reminisce on old memories shared, and it ends on a resounding refrain: “When are you gonna come back and be my boyfriend again?,” a request that feels both juvenile and eternal. Listen via The Fader below.

Tracklist:

01 “Misremembered”

02 “Reactionary”

03 “2008”

04 “Brickwall”

05 “Open Letter To Forever”

06 “Changer”

07 “Voiceover”

08 “There Is No Need To Participate”

09 “August Rats, Young Sociopaths”

10 “Echolocation”

11 “Infuriated”

12 “Oval Beach”

13 “Mallwalkers”

Tour Dates:

11/15 Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews &

11/16 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon &

11/17 Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop &

11/18 Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme

& w/ Protomartyr

Changer is out 1/27 via Polyvinyl Records.