Alabama Shakes are back with their first new song in a decade. “Another Life” is the rock trio’s first original track since the 2015 album Sound & Color—and their debut single for new label home Island. Listen to it below.
“When I wrote ‘Another Life,’ I was thinking about all the lives we carry,” Shakes vocalist and guitarist Brittany Howard shared in a statement. “The ones we’re living right now, the ones that slipped away because of different choices, the what ifs, the what wasn’t meant to be, the goodbyes, and the chance encounters that feel divine. This song is about those threads and how they stretch across time and space, connecting every version of who we are. It’s about letting them come together, letting them harmonize, and realizing that goodbye isn’t really goodbye. It’s more like I’ll see you later. A collective story that never stops unfolding. I’m glad we opened this door into this reality of us making music together again.”
Alabama Shakes—the trio of Howard, Heath Fogg, and Zac Cockrell—went on official hiatus in 2018. Since then, Howard has released two solo albums under her own name: 2019’s Jaime and 2023’s What Now. The band are currently in the midst of their first tour since 2017, which will continue through the end of September.
Read about Sound & Color at No. 138 on “The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s.”