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Aug 31, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Connor Femister

Lancaster-based indie rock vets You, Me, And Everyone We Know have been making a comeback this year, sharing material from their first album in nearly a decade, Something Heavy. The band’s singer, songwriter, and only constant member, Benjamin Liebsch called it quits back in 2016 but, after years of trauma therapy, Liebsch is back again with another cavalcade of collaborators and an album of propulsive self-described “soul punk.”

Liebsch announced the record this summer with “draggedacrossconcrete,” featuring Colins “Bear” Regisford of Mannequin Pussy, and, most recently, shared the album’s title track featuring fellow punks Proper. Today they’re back with another single and another collaboration, “The World Is Ugly, I Want Wine,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“The World Is Ugly, I Want Wine” pulls back from the high-energy intensity of the previous singles, instead exploring isolation and exclusion over synth-laden soundscapes. The track begins sparse, given shape by pulsating synths and a steady drumbeat, only to ascend into an anthemic paean to loneliness. Liebsch’s vulnerable howl lays bare cutting lyricism (“I’m working on a new scar / Just to feel something / My clothes are smelling like an old bar / My liver is bluffing”), all while the track hits a dramatic guitar-driven climax. Liebsch also brings on yet another collaborator, with Tate Logan of pop punk trio Happy. offering his vocal talents for the stirring chorus.

Liebsch says of the track, “‘The World Is Ugly, I Want Wine’ bounces from imagined perspective to imagined perspective as an examination of the hidden internal lives of people that are attending a gathering. My own perspective on intractable loneliness blends with imagery constructed from overheard conversations, hushed concerns about a friend in addiction, and a life made repetitively solitary due to being labeled as other by this world. It really epitomizes a perspective as trans-rational as the band name itself. Sonically I wanted this song to sound like The National, only from the perspective of someone who’s only ever heard one or two The National songs. It was a real treat having Tate participate on this song. Our voices blend so well and his voice really makes the part work the way it does.”

Check out the song below and watch for Something Heavy, coming September 17th via Know Hope Records.