The Flaming Lips Announce New Album The Teardrop Throbs and Release “God Will Control the Werewolves”

The Flaming Lips announced The Teardrop Throbs, a new studio album scheduled for release on January 22, 2027, through Third Man Records. The announcement on October 26 introduced the band's first collection of new material in several years and was accompanied by the release of “God Will Control the Werewolves,” a track intended to introduce listeners to the upcoming record.

The album is described as the band's 17th official studio release and its label debut for Third Man Records. The announcement places the project at a significant point in the group's history, following a long period without a new full-length album of original material. The record is expected to be available digitally, on CD and on vinyl, including a limited-edition color variant.

Known for psychedelic arrangements, experimental production and visually elaborate live performances, the Oklahoma-born band has built a career around music that frequently moves between pop structures and unconventional sound. The new album provides an opportunity to revisit that approach while introducing a fresh chapter in the group's recording history.

A new single opens the album campaign

“God Will Control the Werewolves” was released alongside the album announcement. Frontman Wayne Coyne described an idea that began with an experience involving a game of hide-and-seek with his children near a full moon, a personal starting point that developed into the song's surreal title and imagery.

That blend of ordinary experience and fantastical storytelling has long been compatible with the band's artistic identity. The Flaming Lips often build songs around vivid images, unusual emotional turns and arrangements that blur the line between playful and unsettling. The title of the new single suggests a continuation of that imaginative approach, although listeners will ultimately determine how the track fits within the album as a whole.

The release also includes “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell Part Two,” a reimagining connected to the band's earlier song “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell.” Revisiting existing material can give a group a way to acknowledge its past while changing the musical perspective through new production, arrangement or interpretation. In this case, the track links the upcoming album to a recognizable part of the band's catalog.

A change in the band's recording history

The new record is notable for arriving after the group's previous album of original material, American Head, released in 2020. It also marks a change in the band's lineup and recording history, with multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd no longer part of the group. The announcement described the album as the band's first in 35 years without him.

Lineup changes can alter the creative process of a long-running band, particularly when a member has contributed across multiple albums. However, the available announcement does not establish a single explanation for the departure or specify how every change affected the recording sessions. The album's finished sound will offer listeners a more direct way to assess the group's current musical direction.

The record was produced by the band alongside Taylor Johnson, Dave Fridmann and Scott Booker, according to the release information. Fridmann's long association with the group is part of a broader history of collaborations that have helped shape its studio sound.

Intimate concerts planned around the release

The Flaming Lips also announced a series of two-night performances in selected cities. The initial schedule includes Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London, giving audiences opportunities to see the band in more intimate venues than some of its larger-scale festival and concert appearances.

The performances are scheduled to begin in Nashville in January, around the album's release, with later dates extending into February and April. Ticket presales and general sales were announced for the end of October, according to the label's release.

The new album, lead single and tour announcement form a coordinated return to the spotlight for a band whose identity has been built on experimentation and theatrical live performance. For longtime listeners, the project offers new music alongside a reference to an earlier song. For newer audiences, it provides a fresh entry point into a catalog that has consistently favored imagination over conventional boundaries.

With The Teardrop Throbs, The Flaming Lips are preparing another chapter in a career defined by creative reinvention. The album's January arrival will show how the group brings its current lineup, collaborators and ideas together in a new body of work.