The C.I.A. are a indie all-star trio featuring Denée and Ty Segall and Emmett Kelly. The trio’s newest album Surgery Channel is slated fora a Friday release through In The Red. Written in 2021, the album was recorded Mike Kriebel at Ty Segall’s Harmonizer Studios, and is reportedly an astute observation and blunt critique — both inward and outward. It’s also an exploration into how harshly intimate that process can be. 

Surgery Channel also sees the band crafting an electrified, pulsating, metallic playpen that will get listeners strutting and moving. Essentially, the album shows punks a new way to move while remaining loyal to the punk traditions of catharsis and social commentary. 

Late last year, I wrote about Surgery Channel‘s second single, “Inhale Exhale.” Centered around buzzing and slashing bass attack, skittering beats and rattling thump, electronic pulse and Denée’s punchy shouting. Seemingly meshing elements of industrial electronica, classic punk and old school hip-hop, “Inhale Exhale” is confrontational and abrasive yet accessible — and mosh pit friendly.

Just ahead of the album’s release, the trio share the album’s latest single, “Bubble.” Featuring buzz and slashing dual bass attack, metronomic-like beats, malevolent atmospherics paired with Denée’s sultry cooing. The song tells a tale of dysfunctional, anxiety-driven desire — the sort that drives the song’s main character to self-destruction.

Directed by Joshua Erkman, the accompanying video features the members of The C.I.A. dressed entirely in white for much of the video — with Denée Segall appearing like a crazed Nurse Hatchett. We see the band in front of a white tiled wall, stuffing themselves with a messy and gluttonous abandon.