Brand New May Have Accidentally Sent CDs Of Their New Album To Fans Months Too Early

UPDATE: After Brand New’s upcoming record Science Fiction leaked into the hands of fans, the band has officially released it for sale.

Legendary emo group Brand New hasn’t put out an album since 2009’s Daisy, and for a while, it looked like that could be their final release. When announcing that they wouldn’t release a new album in 2016, they wrote, “What’s left should be a strange demise, but hopefully one as loud and as fun as the rest of our time together has been… Please send flowers.”

It appears that plans have changed, though, since they just announced a pre-order for their “very limited” fifth album and some fall tour dates on Tuesday. The album was supposed to ship in October, but now it looks like some people may have accidentally received the record significantly earlier than that. Fans are starting to report that they got a mysterious CD in the mail from the band’s label, and Shazam recognizes the audio as being from a 2017 Brand New album called Science Fiction. The album art, above, is supposedly a photo by Swedish photographer Thobias Fäldt.

One Reddit user says the CD contains one track that’s 61:27 long and is called “44.5902N104.7146W,” which is also the coordinates for Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Shazam also says that some song titles include “Out Of Mana,” “In The Water,” “Desert,” “451,” and “No Control.”

Each CD packaging is numbered up to 500, and they include some bizarre text, some of which comes from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey:

“I am unsure what to do from moment to moment. My thoughts are scattered, always. When I see or hear recordings of myself being excited, I am embarassed, and find myself false and unlikeable. I have realized over time that people close to me identify me as unreliable, and absent, and it is because in times when I am faced with a decision or responsibility that I am unable to shoulder, I isolate myself and ignore attempts at communication from others, instead of explaining my difficulties or asking for help. I am scared of implementing my ideas out of fear that in actuality they will not be perfect, and that they, and I, will subsequently receive harsh judgement. I have outbursts of rage and despair when I am alone. I am attempting to uncreate this reality. I am finding peace in commitment to others, and in hard work, and in the forgiveness that other people show me when they are faced with my faults. Where and when will I die? And then, what will I become? What are the strings that tie me to you, across unknown planes, made of? Or are there even strings? Or am I you? Are you, me?
e4 e5 – Nf3 Nc6 – Bb5 a6 – Ba4 Nf6 – Qe2 b5 – Bb3 Be7 – c3 0-0 – 0-0 d5 -exd5 Nxd5 -Nxe5 Nf4 Qe4 Nxe5 – Qxa8 Qd3 – Bd1 Bh3 14:
Anyways, queen takes pawn… okay?
Bishop takes knight’s pawn.
Huh, lovely move. Um… Rook to king one.
I’m sorry, Frank, I think you missed it. Queen to bishop 3, bishop takes queen, knight takes bishop. Mate.
Huh. Yeah, looks like you’re right. I resign.
Thank you for a very enjoyable game.
Yeah, thank you.
We love you again.”

There’s no official audio from the album out there yet, although one fan supposedly live-streamed the album on a private Brand New fan Facebook group. According to one Reddit user, “There was no indication on the receipt or confirmation email this was going to happen,” so this really is coming completely out of nowhere. Neither the band nor its management have addressed this strange activity yet.

The Brand New comeback is a lot of fun.