New York band Coheed and Cambria have shared a new video for their song “Shoulders,” their first studio release since their 2020 single “Jessie’s Girl 2.” The song and video for “Shoulders” was released July 21, 2021 with an official music video to follow in the coming weeks. 

The song starts with a fast guitar riff and snapping drum hits. The music video mirrors this action with glitchy white fuzz, snapping on and flicking off as the snare hits begin. As the track opens up with a heavy, thrumming guitar and a crashing percussion line, male vocals begin. Though the vocals are distorted, they soar above the din of the instrumental. “You’re going out of your way/Just to keep me down/Maybe we weren’t made for each other/And I’m just the one you can keep around,” sings Claudio Sanchez.

The video continues its futuristic aesthetic, opting for blue tinted clips of robots and a dystopian facility, chock full of neon lights. The lyrics appear on screen as the track continues, and it pulses with the music.  

On “Shoulders,” Sanchez said in a press release, “In art, in your career, in relationships… No matter how much you give of yourself or try, you have to accept that not everything in life can be a perfect fit.”

Coheed and Cambria recently announced they’ll be co-headlining a US tour with The Used this fall. Claudio Sanchez’s side project, Prize Fighter Inferno released an album called The City Introvert in April 2021, with songs like “Rock Bottom” and “Sweet Talker.” Mxdwn author Phoebe Smith reviewed The City Introvert, writing “Sanchez is truly gifted at assimilating all of life’s emotions into one cohesive story, painted by his distinct viewpoint… The Prize Fighter Inferno’s The City Introvert is compelling because people can truly feel the fun Sanchez had while producing the album. Sanchez manages to find beauty and optimism even in the darkest corners of the mind and bring these thoughts to light in the form of music. Though the album may be more distinctive, The City Introvert truly embodies how magical the process of making music can be.”

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz