Electronic wizards Matmos are back with another predictably unpredictable album. The husband-and-husband duo of Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt will release their 15th LP, Metallic Life Review, on June 20 via Thrill Jockey.

And whereas on past albums they've challenged themselves to create a record using only (or almost only) the manipulated sounds of a washing machine, or plastic materials, or surgery equipment, this time they have crafted a set of songs made primarily with sounds from metallic objects – "bronze, copper, steel, aluminium, and various alloys," according the album description.

With this news comes first single "Changing States", which features (and is dedicated to) late pedal steel player Susan Alcorn. Listen below:

According to the band, as they were finishing the record, a "sense of mortality" started to hang around the proceedings, which led to the idea of a "life review," which is "a phrase used to describe the psychological phenomena reported by people who have survived near death experiences."

Daniel elaborates on the context of the album and the new single:

"We have the sounds of plucking the metallic gates around a tomb recorded in an underground crypt, the sound of cemetery gates, and the death of Susan Alcorn and the death of David Lynch occurred as we completed the album. We had already mixed the music with Susan before she passed, and we dedicate 'Changing States' to her. David Lynch’s way of being an American artist was inspiring to us and we dedicated 'The Chrome Reflects Our Image' to him.”

In case you wanted to know the specifics, on "Changing States", Daniel is credited as playing "Knife, Trowel, Screw, Tuning Forks, Metal Panettone Box, Cast Aluminum Rods, Metal Bowls, Aluminum Tread Plates, Sampling, Sequencing, Mix," and Schmidt is credited with "Sampled Pulse Box Xylophone, Sequencing."

And according to the press release, the album also features (in addition to Alcorn's pedal steel): Owen Gardner’s glockenspiel, Thor Harris’s drumming, Jason Willett's guitar, and Jeff Carey’s aluminum cans, which were melted, molded into custom aluminum rods, and then bowed and struck." (And it also includes "Cannons recorded in Eisenhofen, Germany." So there's that.)

Metallic Life Review is out June 20. Preorder here. Full tracklist:

1. Norway Doorway
2. The Rust Belt
3. Changing States
4. Steel Tongues
5. The Chrome Reflects Our Image
6. Metallic Life Review

The band is also going on tour this spring and summer, with stops in Europe and the US. Check those dates below:

05/23 Wiltshire, UK @ Acid Horse Festival
05/25 Glasgow, UK @ Baked Beans on the Doorstep
05/28 Berlin, DE @ Silent Green
05/30 Pordenone, IT @ Astro Club
06/01 Fano, IT @ Bagli Elsa
06/02 Roma, IT @ Monk
06/04 Genova, IT @ Giardino di Mentelacole
06/06 Milano, IT @ Museo della scienza
06/07 Bologna, IT @ DumBo
06/12 Vienna, AT @ Flucc
06/14 London, UK @ Rio Cinema
06/21 New York City, NY @ Knockdown Center
06/25 Philadelphia, PA @ Solar Myth
06/29 Chicago, IL @ Constellation
07/03 Louisville, KY @ Art Sanctuary
07/08 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
07/11 Los Angeles, CA @ 2220 Arts
07/16 Portland, OR @ Holocene
08/30 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
11/22 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, ES @ Espacio Cultural el Tanque / Keroxen Festival

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