Ahead of the release of their ninth studio album, Qualifying Miles, We Are Scientists frontman Keith Murray spoke with SWOMP to discuss the new material, along with the history of their band.

Murray says there is an emotional push-and-pull behind the band’s new material and life sometimes writes the lyrics before you do.

“One problem with constantly mining your own personal life for lyrical inspiration is that you sometimes catch yourself experiencing personal interactions through the lens of your own future lyrical depiction of the moment,” Murray said in a recent interview. “We hear a lot about artists coping with difficult emotional experiences by hashing them out in their work; much less is said about how the anticipation of doing that artistic hashing plays in at the actual moment. Like, ‘Oh, geez, I’m in trouble now—here comes a good song!’”

That sentiment takes centre stage on “The Big One,” the band’s emotionally raw new single and final preview of Qualifying Miles, which arrives Friday, July 18 via Grönland Records.

“There’s a scene in Noah Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming where a couple, fresh out of undergrad, are fighting over who gets to ‘use this material in a story,’” Murray said, referencing the 1995 indie film. “As a referendum on artistic solipsism, it haunts me to this day. I guess ‘The Big One’ is about those moments when things go so awry that that sort of in-the-moment arm’s-length analysis is no longer a possibility. Now you’re just in it. It also has maybe my favorite guitar solo ever, so, yeah.”

“The Big One” follows three emotionally charged singles that have reintroduced We Are Scientists as sharp, guitar-forward and emotionally expansive: the aching “Please Don’t Say It,” the shimmering “I Could Do Much Worse,” and the melancholic “What You Want Is Gone,” which was accompanied by a fan-shot tour video leaning into themes of memory and longing.

Together, the tracks paint a picture of a band looking back without being stuck in the past. Qualifying Miles is a stripped-down record that captures Murray and bassist Chris Cain embracing the ’90s guitar rock influences that first lit the fuse in their early Brooklyn days, while pushing toward something more instinctive and immediate.

Tracks like “Dead Letters” and “At The Mall In My Dreams” explore impermanence and the ache of lost connections, while flashes of wit and melodic swagger keep the record from veering too far into despair. The album title itself, Qualifying Miles, plays like a wink to the band’s two-decade journey—one that began with their 2005 breakthrough With Love and Squalor—but the songs crackle with a vitality that suggests a new chapter rather than a retrospective.

Recorded with a “band in a room” energy, the album trades polish for presence, capturing the urgency of a band rediscovering its core after years of refinement.

We Are Scientists will mark the release with a short East Coast tour this fall, including a stop in Toronto on Sept. 13. A sold-out album release show at Union Pool in Brooklyn is set for July 30.

Tour dates:

July 30 – Brooklyn, NY – Union Pool (SOLD OUT)

Sept. 4 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s

Sept. 5 – Amherst, PA – The Drake

Sept. 6 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar

Sept. 9 – Columbus, OH – Rumba Café

Sept. 10 – Ferndale, MI – The Magic Bag

Sept. 11 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle

Sept. 13 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern

Follow the band at https://wearescientists.com/.

Photo credit: Sari Murray