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Nov 01, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Kiley Rothweiler

New York City-based art rockers Imaginary People have spent the year building up to the release of their third full-length album, Alibi. Envisioned as a response to the tensions brought on by the US’s simmering culture war, Alibi was originally set to come out last year. After a year in lockdown, the band returned this March with a new single, “Renegade” and today they’re back with the latest taste of the record, “Soft Token,” premiering with Under the Radar.

Following the unrelenting charge of “Renegade” and the skittering rhythms of their most recent single, “It’s Simple,” “Soft Token” is a winding, slow-burning gem. Chiming guitars and watery synth lines interlock into layers of decadent melodic beauty, while frontman Dylan Von Wagner’s vulnerable vocal performance imparts an almost mournful quality to the track.

Meanwhile, the accompanying video, in the band’s trademark surrealist style, features Von Wagner being hunted by an assassin clad in a T-Rex costume, played by Von Wagner’s wife, Kiley Rothweiler. As Von Wagner explains, “A wealthy black market art dealer is exposed by his client, a Thai opium syndicate, for selling them a fraudulent 40 million dollar dinosaur skeleton. The art dealer discovers his clients want revenge and he resigns to accept his fate. Having a sense of humor, the gangsters send the assassin in a Trex costume to taunt him outside his house before doing the deed.”

Check out the song and video below and watch for the band’s next full-length record, Alibi.