Deer Tick Fulfills ‘Contractual Obligations’ With New EP Featuring Anthemic ‘Sacrosanct’ Single

Deer Tick will issue a new EP, Contractual Obligations, on July 12 via ATO Records. The collection captured during the sessions for the rockers’ 2023 album, Emotional Contracts, is previewed by the single, “Sacrosanct.”

The Providence-born Deer Tick — guitarists John McCauley and Ian O’Neil, drummer Dennis Ryan and bassist Christopher Ryan — took to a warehouse in their hometown for months to demo the material on Contractual Obligations and Emotional Contracts before convening in the studio with renowned producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Spoon, Sleater-Kinney).

But not all the material made it on the 2023 record, as McCauley explained.

“Sometimes when you make a record you have to make a few cuts,” he said. “With 2023’s Emotional Contracts, we were quite happy with all the material that ended up on the cutting room floor. So we swept it all up and compiled it into this EP titled Contractual Obligations.”

Previewing the new eight-track EP is “Sacrosanct,” a “song that we’ve cut and recut a few times over the years,” McCauley said. “We always felt like it was lacking something. Recording it with Dave Fridmann gave it the kick in the pants we all felt it needed.”

Watch the lyric video for “Sacrosanct” below:

Deer Tick kicks off their 20th Anniversary Tour with a three-night run at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York, July 3 – 5. Scroll down for the band’s itinerary with ticket info.

Contractual Obligations Tracklist:

1. Sacrosanct
2. Wasting Time
3. Big Black Hearse
4. Die on a Hill
5. Life Insurance
6. The Last Book on the Shelf
7. On Fire
8. Goodbyes