The Flaming Lips Return With ‘The Teardrop Throbs’ & Intimate 2027 Shows

The Flaming Lips will release The Teardrop Throbs, their first album of new material in more than six years, on January 22, 2027 through Third Man Records. The Oklahoma City band previewed the record with lead single “God Will Control The Werewolves” and announced a series of intimate two-night stands.

The follow-up to 2020’s American Head marks The Flaming Lips’ first studio album without longtime multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Steven Drozd since 1992’s Hit To Death In The Future Head. It also marks their first album outside Warner since 1990’s In A Priest Driven Ambulance. Drozd’s departure became public late last year.

The Flaming Lips produced the 13-track collection with Taylor Johnson, Dave Fridmann and Scott Booker. Jon Fridmann and Mike Fridmann supplied additional production. The Teardrop Throbs will be available digitally, on CD and on black vinyl, along with a limited “Teardrop Blue” vinyl edition.

Frontman Wayne Coyne traced much of the album’s inspiration to parenthood and thoughts about mortality. In extensive notes accompanying the announcement, Coyne recalled watching his young son Rex sleep in the backseat of his car while mistakenly reading a Children’s Health Foundation sign as “Children’s Death Foundation.” The imagined scene stayed with him and helped shape the record over a two-year process.

“It occurred to me there will never be anything in my life as important as my two little boys,” Coyne wrote. “But also we (The Flaming Lips) are making a new record and what’s in your mind usually finds its way into your music whether you intend it to or not.”

“God Will Control The Werewolves” grew from another moment with Coyne’s sons, Bloom and Rex. The three were playing hide-and-seek at a park as darkness fell under a full moon when Bloom asked whether werewolves might get the boys while they were hiding.

“I told him God would control the werewolves for a little bit while we played hide n seek,” Coyne explained. “The way I heard the song sounding (in my head) was kind of Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon BUT Syd Barrett is still in the band.”

Listen to The Flaming Lips’ “God Will Control The Werewolves” below:

The album opens with “Throb,” which emerged from new slide guitarist A.J. Slaughter’s recreation of music from The Night Of The Hunter. Elsewhere, “Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell Part 2” revisits ideas from the similarly titled song on 2002’s Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. Coyne described the new piece as another attempt to imagine Barrett fronting Dark Side Of The Moon-era Pink Floyd.

The Flaming Lips will launch their newly announced shows on release day with the first of two nights at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl on January 22 and 23. The band then heads to New York City’s Irving Plaza on January 26 and 27.

The run continues with two-night stands at The Bellwether in Los Angeles on February 23 and 24 and Chicago’s Metro on February 27 and 28. London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire hosts the group on April 2 and 3. Additional dates will be announced.

On the first night, The Flaming Lips will perform The Teardrop Throbs in its entirety during the first set before returning for a second set billed as “Songs From The 20th Century.” On the second night, the band will perform the new album “in a new way” during the first set and devote the second set to “Songs From The 21st Century.”

An artist presale begins Wednesday, October 28 at 10 a.m. local time. Local presales follow Thursday, October 29 at 10 a.m. local time before tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, October 30 at 10 a.m. local time.

The Teardrop Throbs Tracklist

1. Throb
2. God Will Control The Werewolves
3. Titan
4. Every Teardrop Cried
5. Hooray
6. Instructions On How To Draw An Eyeball Or How To Deal With A Loved One Who Is Addicted To Drugs
7. You See You In Me
8. You’ve Got Brain Damage
9. At The End Of The Day
10. The Trees Are Getting Their Leaves
11. Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell Part 2
12. A Sunset Far Away
13. Now I Understand