Lyric Video: Nation of Language Shares Swooning “Under the Water”

Acclaimed Brooklyn-based synth pop trio and JOVM mainstays Nation of Language — Ian Richard Devaney (vocals, guitar), Aidan Noell (synths) and Alex MacKay (bass) — have amass a rapidly growing and devout national and international fanbase as a result of a dance floor friendly sound that draws from New Wave, post-punk and shoegaze. The JOVM mainstays three albums, 2020’s Introduction, Presence, 2021’s A Way Forward and 2023’s Strange Disciple have received coverage from Billboard, The New York Times, Document Journal, BrooklynVegan, MOJO, NME, Pitchfork, Stereogum and lengthy list of others, including this site. 

Adding to a rapidly rising profile, the band has performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. They’ve also become a mainstay on the international festival circuit, playing sets at Austin City Limits, Desert Daze, Pitchfork Festival, Primavera Sound, Pukklepop, Corona Capital, Outside Lands, Bonnaroo, and a growing list of others globally. And recently, “Weak In Your Light” was featured in the series finale of the Netflix hit show You.

Earlier this year, the acclaimed JOVM mainstays announced that they signed to Sub Pop Records, who will be releasing their new material globally in 2025 and beyond, including the band’s highly-anticipated fourth album, Dance Called Memory. Slated for a September 19, 2025 release, the 10-song album was recorded, produced and mixed by Holy Ghost‘s Nick Millhiser, who produced 2023’s Strange Disciple. “What’s so great about Nick is his ability to make us feel like we don’t need to do what might be expected of us,” says Nation of Language’s Aidan Noell. The album was mastered by Heba Kadry, who has worked on some of the most acclaimed records of the past decade or so. 

Sonically, the album is imbued with a subtly shifted palette: On some tracks percussion is smashed through a synthesizer to nod at early-2000’s electronic music. Chopped-up drum break samples make appearances, too. 

Ultimately, for the trio, the hope was to weave raw vulnerability and humanity into a synth-heavy album. “There is a dichotomy between the Kraftwerk school of thought and the Brian Eno school of thought, each of which I’ve been drawn to at different points. I’ve read about how Kraftwerk wanted to remove all of the humanity from their music, but Eno often spoke about wanting to make synthesized music that felt distinctly human,” Nation of Language’s Ian Richard Devaney says. “As much as Kraftwerk is a sonically foundational influence, with this record I leaned much more towards the Eno school of thought. In this era quickly being defined by the rise of AI supplanting human creators, I’m focusing more on the human condition, and I need the underlying music to support that… Instead of hopelessness, I want to leave the listener with a feeling of us really seeing one another, that our individual struggles can actually unite us in empathy.”

Dance Called Memory will feature the previously released “Inept Apollo” “I’m Not Ready for the Change,” and the album’s third and latest single, “Under the Water.” Anchored around a minimalist leaning arrangement of an oscillating synth melody paired with Devaney’s achingly yearning delivery, “Under the Water” subtly nods at Kraftwerk while being deeply human, expressing swooning longing and heart-wrenching regret — all while continuing to showcase the trio’s unerring knack for breezy, nostalgia-inducing synth pop.

“This was the last one to make the cut before we turned the record in,” the band’s Ian Richard Devaney says. “We’d always had a lot of enthusiasm for the track, but the studio schedule had gotten a bit unwieldy over the holidays and an arbitrary deadline had been set to be done with LP4 prior to leaving for a January tour in Australia supporting IDLES. As such we’d turned in the final album mixes for mastering before getting on the plane and I’d resigned myself to saving ‘Under the Water’ for some subsequent release down the line. But somewhere over the Pacific Ocean while trying to sequence the album clarity set in that despite our love for rigid adherence to the production calendar, we wanted it on there. So before soundchecks on the other side of the planet we hooked up all the synths we’d brought with us in the greenroom, remotely concocting the version you hear now. If it somehow sounds distinctly of the southern hemisphere, now you’ll all know why.”

The JOVM mainstays will be busy throughout this summer and fall. They’ll will be opening for Death Cab for Cutie on their Plans: 20th Anniversary Tour for four dates: Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena on July 31, 2025 and August 2, 2025 and for two-sold out shows in Chicago’s Chicago Theatre, August 5, 2025 and August 6, 2025. 

After opening for Death Cab for Cutie, the acclaimed Brooklyn-based trio will then embark on a lengthy international headlining tour, which features stops across North America through the fall. During the late fall, they’ll head over to the European Union and the UK. 

The North American leg of the tour includes a three-night, hometown stand at Warsaw — September 18, 2025, September 19, 2025 and September 20, 2025. 

The EU and UK tour dates will feature the band headlining some of their largest venues across the continent they’ve played to date. Support for the North American and UK/EU shows will come from Safe Mind (Aug. 21st-23rd), Deathwish Inc.’s Greet Death (Sep. 21st-Oct. 5th), Sub Pop labelmates Deeper (Oct.17th-30th), and Partisan Records act Westerman (Oct. 8th-13th + Nov. 8th-22nd).

Check out all the tour dates below.

Nation of Language 
Summer 2025 Support Shows w/ Death Cab for Cutie
Thu. Jul. 31 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena **
Sat. Aug. 02 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena ** [Sold Out]
Tue. Aug. 05 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theater ** [Sold Out]
Wed. Aug. 06 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theater ** [Sold Out]
 
August – October 2025 
North American Headline Shows
Thu. Aug. 21 – Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom !
Fri. Aug. 22 –  Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater !
Sat. Aug. 23 – Portland, ME – State Theatre !
Thu. Sep. 18 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw %
Fri. Sep. 19 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw +
Sat. Sep. 20 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw #
Sun. Sep. 21 – Boston, MA – Royale #
Tue. Sep. 23 – Detroit, MI – The Majestic #
Wed. Sep. 24 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall #
Fri. Sep. 26 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue #
Sat. Sep. 27 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom #
Mon. Sep. 29 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown #
Tue. Sep. 30 – Kansas City, MO – The Truman #
Thu. Oct. 02 – Denver, CO – The Gothic Theatre #
Sat. Oct. 04 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory #
Sun. Oct. 05 – Missoula, MT – Top Hat #
Wed. Oct. 08 – Vancouver, BC – The Pearl ^
Sun. Oct. 11 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall ^
Mon. Oct. 13 – San Francisco. CA – The Fillmore ^
Wed. Oct. 15 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theater ^
Thu. Oct. 16 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theater  *
Fri. Oct. 17 – San Diego, CA – Music Box *
Tue. Oct. 21 – Austin, TX – Mohawk *
Wed. Oct. 22 – Dallas, TX – The Studio at The Bomb Factory *
Thu. Oct. 24 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall *
Sat. Oct. 25 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse *
Sun. Oct. 26 – Chapel Hill, NC – Cat’s Cradle *
Mon. Oct. 27 – Richmond, VA – The Broadberry *
Wed. Oct. 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer *
Thu. Oct. 30 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club *
 
November 2025
UK/EU Headlining Shows
Thu. Nov. 06 – Dublin, IE – Opium $
Fri. Nov. 07 – Dublin, IE – Opium $ [Sold Out]
Sat. Nov. 08 – Manchester, UK – O2 Ritz Manchester ^
Sun. Nov. 09 – Glasgow, UK – St. Luke’s ^
Tue. Nov. 11 – Cardiff, UK – Tramshed ^
Wed. Nov. 12 – London, UK – The Roundhouse ^
Fri. Nov. 14 – Paris, FR – Elysee Montmartre ^
Sat. Nov. 15 – Amsterdam, NL – Melkweg ^
Sun. Nov. 16 – Nijmegen, NL – Doornroosje ^
Tue. Nov. 18 – Cologne, DE – Gloria ^
Wed. Nov. 19 – Hamburg, DE – Uebel & Gefährlich ^
Fri. Nov. 21 – Berlin, DE – Columbiahalle ^
Sat. Nov. 22 – Munich, DE – Technikum ^
Sun. Nov. 23 – Milan, IT – Magazzini Generali
Wed. Nov. 26 – Barcelona, ES – Razzmatazz
Thu. Nov. 27 – Madrid, ES – La Riviera
Fri. Nov. 28 – Lisbon, PT – LAV
 
** w/ Death Cab For Cutie
! w/ Safe Mind
# w/ Greet Death
* w/ Deeper
^ w/ Westerman
+ w/ Horse Jumper of Love
% w/ A. Savage
$ w/ Telekura