The Neighborhood have announced their fourth studio album, Chip Chrome & The Mono-Tones, will be released on September 25 via Columbia Records. Along with the album announcement, the band has released the album’s first single, “Cherry Flavoured,” with an accompanying music video.

The animated style video begins with The Neighborhood’s logo as graffiti on a door in the middle of the ocean, “The Neighborhood” plastered on the bottom right of the screen in the same orange splatter that had long been Nickelodeon’s logo. The track brings slight psychedelic undertones, the animation thriving in vibrant colors as an animated Jesse Rutherford drags himself out of bed and gets ready for the day, working through his mess of hair and smoothing himself down, launching into space before crash landing in an LA street. Hues of pinks, purples and oranges create a striking sunset, the track calmly weaving through with Rutherford’s deep voice dancing over the calming strums. The Neighborhood switch from their famous dark sound and carry a slightly more upbeat and calming tone, while lyrics such as “I sold my soul a long time ago/ I feel like a ghost now” keep close to the band’s darker roots.

Rutherford explained the meaning behind “Cherry Flavoured” in a press statement, and stated he feels the upcoming album will head the band in a new direction with happier-sounding tunes as he takes on his alter-ego, Chip Chrome.

“‘Cherry Flavoured Conversations’ means exactly what it sounds like,” Rutherford said. “It’s something that seems really good and sweet when you’re talking about it, but it may not be possibly in reality. I ended up going to an internal place and got back to me. I realized, ‘maybe I’m the one who’s putting the cherry flavoring in these conversations?’ I needed to take a look at myself.”

Chip Chrome had been introduced last year in the music video for “Middle of Somewhere.” Rutherford explained his inspiration in a press statement, explaining Chip Chrome had always been a character he had found within himself, and “has always been somewhere behind-the-scenes.”

“I wanted to speak in a different way with music,” Rutherford said in a press statement. “At the end of the day, I’ve been trying to figure out what it really means. Sometimes it’s hard for me to put it into words – even though it’s supposed to be my job with the lyrics. Chip helped me find that voice. He’s the best leader I could be for this project, for the boys, and for my friends. The Mono-Tones are the voices in my head that are always there. They can be a bit haunting and keep me up at night, but I trust their taste.”

Photo credit: Marisa Rose Ficara