A Long Way From Kansas

Hot Chip’s A Long Way from Kansas is their forthcoming ninth studio album, scheduled to be released January 8, 2027, through Domino. Recorded at Joe Goddard and Al Doyle’s Relax and Enjoy studio in East London, the 11-track collection responds to an unsettled world through distortion, dissonance, and the communal energy of electronic pop. Its title references The Wizard of Oz, framing the search for home as a search for belonging—whether among friends on a dance floor or within the shelter of familiar surroundings. Rather than making every song explicitly political, the band describe contemporary violence, loss, and uncertainty as the backdrop that shaped the record’s rougher musical textures.

Lead single “Random Violence” introduces that direction through a tribute to Keith McIvor, the late Optimo DJ known as JD Twitch, drawing on memories of Glasgow’s Sub Club and his commitment to music and solidarity. The announced album also features Beth Ditto on “Me in Your Head” and Eddie Chacon on “The Garden,” alongside expanded vocal contributions from within Hot Chip: Felix Martin sings on one of their records for the first time, with choir parts and group singing further widening the ensemble sound. Tracks including “The Mask Is Slipping,” “Shortcut to Love,” “Secular Hymns,” and the closing “Crushing” complete a program presented as a celebration of human connection amid instability. With the full album still unreleased, “Random Violence” provides the clearest available introduction to that balance of abrasion, remembrance, and collective uplift.