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He worries about what wouldve become of the album if he hadnt finished it before the quarantine chaos.
The magic would be gone, he says.
I feel like this record probably wouldnt have happened otherwise.
But by early May, as more concerts got canceled, he changed his mind.
The timing was perfect, even if fortuitous.
(He talked with Vulture beforeprotests against police brutalityswept the nation.)
Critics and fans praised his October 2016 albumWORRY.for capturing the pre-election mood, andPOST-even more for channeling Trump-era rage.
It was all scheduled harder than Ive ever scheduled anything in my entire life.
When we put out records, our band is always really excited to play songs for people.
Was the plan always for it to be another surprise drop?Yeah.
I just like doing stuff like that.For me, a long album rollout …
The lead-up becomes the story.
And Im like,the album is the thing.
I dont wanna do that.
When did you know that now was the time to put it out?A couple of weeks beforehand.
That seemed lame to me.
Ive got nothing to do, Im sitting around at home, I want a new record.
A lot of this stuff was written before we recordedPOST-.
When I started playing it, people were like, Oh man, this is about fucking corona times.
I was like, Oh, is it?
I was trying to feel some personal growth over the last couple of years.
I did get to go through that with my wife and my best friends.
Its really depressing to see our government be actively complicit in that shit.
Some people wont weve seen that, and thats not great.
But some people will, and I think thats inspiring and makes me want to do the same thing.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
