This Friday, January 27, Toronto’s Fucked Up will release their highly anticipated new album, One Day, via Merge Records. Today, they present its final single/video, “Cicada.” Dedicated to lost friends, the bittersweet “Cicada” features guitarist Mike Haliechuk on lead vocals. Directed by Colin Medley, the black-and-white video is an intimate look at the life of Fucked Up. 

In Haliechuk’s words: “‘Cicada’ is about what life is like after you lose people, and our responsibility to carry them forward into the future, using the things they taught us as a light. I like to imagine the sound of cicadas as a metaphor for our strange life in the subculture—we all just live these weird little hidden lives under the dirt, and then once in a generation, one of us gets to bust out of the dirt and intone their song so loud that it can be heard all over.”

Written and recorded in the span of one literal day, One Day sees the band delivering one of the most energizing and intricate albums of their entire career. The Canadian hardcore legends have been known for their epic scale in the past, from towering concept albums to 12-hour performances—so it might be a surprise that Fucked Up’s sixth studio album is their shortest to date, but it’s simply a massive-sounding record that arrives in deceptively small confines.

The idea to write and record an album in one day came to mind for Haliechuk in the closing months of 2019, and it forms the ideological and structural backbone of One Day. Haliechuk got himself into a studio and proceeded to write and record the record’s ten tracks over three eight-hour sessions, reconnecting with the core of his and the band’s songwriting essence in the process. Though work on One Day was completed remotely, Fucked Up as a whole adhered to the 24-hour rule during the creative process, including vocalist Damian Abraham (who returned to contributing lyrics as well for the first time since 2014’s Glass Boys).

The resulting One Day is a record that sounds full-bodied and immediate, with music that burns brutally and passionately in a way that only Fucked Up can evoke. The guitars sound like ziggurats reaching to the sky, reaching dizzying levels of melodic interplay while always maintaining a tuneful clarity. It’s an undeniable work of confidence from a band that continues to operate at the top of their game, making music that’s guaranteed to last a lifetime and beyond. 

Pre-order One Day on CD, LP, and blue jay in milky clear Peak Vinyl in the Merge store, and catch Fucked Up on tour in the UK and US this spring!

Fucked Up on tour: 
Jan 26 Calgary, AB – Big Winter Classic @ Broken City
Jan 27 Saskatoon, SK – Winterruption @ Louis’
Jan 28 Edmonton, AB – Winterruption @ Starlite Room
Mar 09 Bristol, UK – The Fleece
Mar 10 Exeter, UK – The Cavern
Mar 11 Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach
Mar 12 Sheffield, UK – The Leadmill 2
Mar 13 Newcastle, UK – The Cluny
Mar 14 Glasgow, UK – Room 2
Mar 15 Manchester, UK – The Deaf Institute 
Mar 16 Nottingham, UK –  Bodega Social Club
Mar 17 Brighton, UK – Patterns
Mar 18 London, UK – Lafayette
Apr 27 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda's
Apr 28 New York, NY – Brooklyn Made
Apr 29 Jersey City, NJ – White Eagle Hall
Apr 30 Washington, DC – Union Stage
May 01 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
May 02 Milwaukee, WI — Shank Hall
May 03 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
May 04 Indianapolis, IN – Hifi
May 05 Cincinnati, OH – Woodward Theater