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Jan 18, 2022 By Joey Arnone Photography by Milla Belenich

Brooklyn-based punk trio Proper. have announced the release of a new album, The Great American Novel. The album, produced by Bartees Strange, will be out on March 25 via Father/Daughter and Big Scary Monsters. The band has shared a new single from the album, “Milk & Honey,” via a video for it. View the video, directed and edited by frontman Erik Garlington, below, along with the album’s tracklist and cover art.

In a press release, Garlington elaborates on the new single: “You’re taught early on that having children is the ultimate end goal in lift. I knew from a young age that being a family man wasn’t appealing to me but it was drilled into my head I’d change my mind once I settled down. Now that I’m almost 31, it’s finally settling in for my parents that I won’t be the one to pass on our family name. There’s a mixed feeling of bitterness, relief and quite a bit of feeling selfish that comes with a conversation like that.”

Garlington describes The Great American Novel as “a concept album about how Black genius goes ignored, is relentlessly contested, or just gets completely snuffed out before it can flourish. The record is meant to read like a book, every song is a chapter following the protagonist through their ’20s. Imagine a queer, Black Holden Caulfield-type coming up in the 2010s.”

In 2019, the band released their sophomore album, I Spent the Winter Writing Songs About Getting Better, on Big Scary Monsters. Last year, they shared the song “Don’t.” In September, they shared “Zuko Alone,” which was one of our Songs of the Week.

Read our interview with the band from last year.

Last November, the band shared the album track “Red, White, & Blue.”

The Great American Novel Tracklist:

1. You Good
2. Shuck & Jive
3. Red, White and Blue
4. Jean
5. McConnell
6. Ganymede
7. Barbershop Interlude
8. In The Van Somewhere Outside of Birmingham
9. Juvie
10. The Routine
11. Huerta
12. Milk and Honey
13. Done Talking
14. Americana
15. Yeah… I’m Good (Epilogue)

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