The Flaming Lips released their new single “Will You Return / When You Come Down” and its corresponding music video on Friday. It comes from the group’s 16 studio album, American Head. It will be released Sept. 11 through Warner Records.

The downtempo song contains a minimal focus on piano, xylophone and guitar and an emphasized focus on the somber vocals delivered. It contains elements of country rock. Its themes deal with loss and grief, evidenced by the lyrics, “Shooting star/Crashing in your car/What went wrong/Now all your friends are gone.”

Wayne Coyne and George Salisbury directed music video, which was shot during quarantine in Oklahoma. The video features all members of the band performing in a studio, practicing social distancing. They are each separated by a plastic tarp as they continue to play. Much like the themes of loss and loneliness in the song’s lyrics, the separation The Flaming Lips portray in the video add to the song’s message.

In June, the group announced their upcoming studio album. At the time,  Coyne said in a press release, “The music and songs that make up the American Head album are based in a feeling. A feeling that, I think, can only be expressed through music and songs. We were, while creating it, trying to NOT hear it as sounds…but to feel it. Mother’s sacrifice, Father’s intensity, Brother’s insanity, Sister’s rebellion…I can’t quite put it into words. Something switches and others (your brothers and sisters and mother and father…your pets) start to become more important to you…in the beginning there is only you…and your desires are all that you can care about…but…something switches…I think all of these songs are about this little switch.”

“Will You Return / When You Come Down” is the fifth single from American Head. It follows the release of “You n Me Sellin’ Weed,” “Dinosaurs on the Mountain,” “My Religion is You” and “Flowers of Neptune 6.”

Photo Credit: Mauricio Alvarado