Superchunk Share New Song “Everybody Dies”: Listen

Merge Records is turning 35 this year. In addition to a mostly unannounced summer festival (only the dates July 24-27 have been publicly confirmed), a new Superchunk single is coming. “Everybody Dies” is out now, with its B-side “As in a Blender” (a cover of the Alastair Galbraith song) and physical release following on January 26. Hear “Everybody Dies” below.

The new single was inspired by the “avalanche of loss” stemming from the past few years; Mac McCaughan cited David Bowie, Prince, Pharoah Sanders, Tina Turner, and others before referencing his own friends and peers. “It means of course we’re getting older, and while we know from an early age that yes, everybody dies, it doesn’t make these departures any less shocking,” he said in a statement. McCaughan continued:

When I recorded the demo of the A-side, I played a poor imitation of a Drive Like Jehu–type drum pattern; Rick Froberg was a musical inspiration. Lucky for everyone, I didn’t try to sing like him on this track. When we were thinking of covers to record for the B-side—dedicated to Hamish Kilgour in the runout groove—I came in one day and said, “What about an Alastair Galbraith song?” and Jim said, “‘As in a Blender’?” Galbraith’s meditation on mortality and the passage of time is somewhat more sanguine than ours and was exactly the one I had been listening to.

The new single was recorded by Mac MacCaughan, Laura Ballance, Jim Wilbur, and Laura King— the post–Jon Wurster lineup of the band. Superchunk’s last album was 2022’s Wild Loneliness.