Hot Chip A Long Way From Kansas Album Set for January 8, 2027

A ninth album shaped by grief and distortion

Hot Chip have confirmed that their ninth studio album, A Long Way From Kansas, will come out on January 8, 2027 through Domino.28 The band released the lead single, "Random Violence," the same day, along with a video.2 They also announced a UK and European tour that starts in Berlin in late February and ends at London's Exhibition White City on March 12.113

The details are consistent across outlets. The record has 11 tracks and was made earlier this year at Relax and Enjoy, the East London studio run by Joe Goddard and Al Doyle.23 Beth Ditto sings on "Me In Your Head" and Eddie Chacon appears on "The Garden."6 The more interesting question is what the album says about where the band is now. The way they are presenting it suggests a deliberate turn toward something rougher.

The title comes from Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. The label frames it as a story about the distance Dorothy and her dog had to travel to get home and find some normality again. Clash describes the image as a band trying to find its own way back.1 That fits the album's framing, which is less about escape than about reorienting when nothing feels stable.

"Random Violence" and the Optimo connection

The lead single carries the most emotional weight of the announcement. "Random Violence" is a tribute to Keith McIvor, the Glasgow DJ and promoter also known as JD Twitch, who co-founded the Optimo club night at the Sub Club.126 Goddard has said McIvor died in September of last year, a few months after he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. He has also said McIvor's life, death, his socialist politics and the band's memories of meeting him at the Sub Club about 20 years ago shaped much of the lyric.110

The song is structured as a duet. Goddard sings lead at the start and Alexis Taylor comes in later.8 Several outlets quote the lyric pairing Goddard's lines about friends telling stories of a man who sent "songs out into the world" with Taylor's answer, "You gave me something to believe in."310 Doyle has described the song's effect as a "human connection," a phrase repeated across the coverage.310

Jack Cole directed the video, which stars the all-female progressive morris dancing troupe Boss Morris.6 Doyle says the costumes of woodland spirits and cursed animals grew out of the band's memories of Optimo's Espookio Halloween parties at the Sub Club.68 The band are also taking the tribute off-screen. On Wednesday, October 21, they will DJ with friends at the Sub Club to mark McIvor's legacy, and Dork reports the event is free.36

Leading with a memorial song rather than an easy dancefloor single is a statement in itself. Hot Chip have always treated the club as a social space, and here they put a specific club, a specific DJ and a specific community at the front of the campaign. Audiofuzz reads the track as grief turned into something shared rather than private.4 That is the most convincing account of what the band is attempting, and it explains why the single sits so comfortably next to the album's broader themes.

Distortion as a governing idea

Taylor's statement explains the album's tone. He describes the world the band was recording in as unusually "harsh, discordant, violent and depressing." He adds that not every song is about politics, but that the backdrop, including genocide, could not be avoided, and that distortion became a guiding word for the whole record.1 Domino's own copy goes further, listing deaths, senseless wars and a climate crisis "burning through the seasons" as the bleakness the album responds to.

Outlets describe the resulting sound slightly differently. Consequence calls it more distorted and "punk-influenced."2 Audiofuzz describes darker, rougher textures that keep Hot Chip's usual warmth and optimism on the dancefloor.4 The Scottish Music Network, working from the press materials, writes of notes that "flay," loops that crash into each other and vocals that leave threads hanging, and sums the record up as tonally dark but sonically ecstatic.9

These accounts point in the same direction, but the "punk" label goes a little beyond what the band has said. Taylor talks about distortion, not about a change of genre, and the guest list of Ditto and Chacon, both soulful singers, suggests the melodies are still intact.9 The fairest reading for now is that the album is a dirtier, noisier version of familiar Hot Chip rather than a break from it. Only one song has been released, so any firmer judgement will have to wait for the full album.

More voices in the room

The album also opens up the band's vocal line-up. Taylor says that alongside himself and Goddard, Owen Clarke and Felix Martin both sing. It is Martin's first time singing on a Hot Chip record. There is also a choir and plenty of group singing, which Taylor describes as "opening out our interior world."83

Here the music and the theme line up most clearly. A record about isolation and a hostile outside world is being built on group singing and invited guests. Audiofuzz argues that the extra voices reinforce the idea that music can bring people back toward each other.4 Paired with a lead single about a DJ who brought people together, the collective vocals look like the album's central idea rather than a production choice.

Context: a busy 2026 and a long catalogue

The announcement ends an unusually public year for the band. They appeared in the second season of Netflix's Beef, playing live with Oscar Isaac. In May they marked 20 years of their second album, The Warning, with an appearance on NPR's Song Exploder.3 Treble notes that the band also reissued three of their classic albums earlier in the year.5 Clash says the band talked about plans for new material during The Warning celebrations.1

A Long Way From Kansas follows Freakout/Release (2022) and A Bath Full of Ecstasy (2019).8 That makes this the longest gap between Hot Chip albums in recent years, which may help explain why the band is calling this its "most primal" record. Audiofuzz puts the band at nearly 27 years since forming and stresses how rare it is for an electronic group to stay creatively restless that long.4 The label points to the band's Grammy nomination and a sold-out four-night run at Brixton Academy as proof of their live strength.

Tour, formats and some loose ends

The album is available to pre-order on a deluxe double gatefold LP with an extra 7-inch, a standard double gatefold LP, CD and digital. First vinyl pressings come in a limited spot-gloss, foil-blocked sleeve.3 Scott King designed the cover.4 Pre-ordering unlocks the tour presale, and general sale opens on Friday, October 23.6

The published tour listings don't fully agree:

• Glasgow: Under the Radar and Audiofuzz list two nights at SWG3 Galvanizers, on March 7 and 8.12 The Scottish Music Network and Live Manchester list only March 8.13
• Birmingham: Consequence includes a Birmingham date at the O2 Institute and puts Manchester on March 8.11 Most other listings put Manchester's Albert Hall on March 9 and don't mention Birmingham.
• Opening track: most outlets call it "Stuck Around," but Domino's own listing calls it "Stuck Record."1

The dates that most listings share are Berlin's Astra (February 26), Brussels, Amsterdam's Paradiso, Paris's Le Bataclan, Dublin's 3Olympia (March 4), Leeds, Bristol and London.12 Fans buying tickets should check the band's own listings before travelling.

The reading

The announcement is well judged. A band known for warm, clever dance music is facing a grim period without giving up on joy, and is presenting that joy as a form of resistance. The single, the video, the free Sub Club night and the choir all tell the same story: community is the way home. Whether the full album holds the distortion and the euphoria together as well as the press materials promise will be clear in January. For now, "Random Violence" suggests Hot Chip are confronting the bleakness directly rather than escaping it.