The Van Pelt confirmed their fifth studio album, Remain Obscure, arriving September 18 via Wrong Speed Records, alongside first track "Kris Is Riding Horses In Ojai."
The 11-track record was recorded between 2024 and 2025 at Retromedia Sound Studios in New Jersey with engineer Adam Vaccarelli. Core members Sean Greene, Chris Leo, Brian Maryansky and Neil O'Brien are joined by guests including Liam Bornowski on pedal steel, MJ Hancock on saxophone synth, Sarah Schimeneck on vocals and Alicia Testa on piano.
The NYU-founded group first emerged in the mid-1990s with records inspired by Slint and Television on New Jersey label Gern Blandsten Records before disbanding, resurfacing quietly in the 2010s and returning properly with 2023's Artisans & Merchants, their first album in over two decades.
The tracklist reads like a collection of short stories, running from the opener through "Linens Should Be Freshly Pressed," "Arid As The Aral," "City of Dead Ends," "Rally Song For Marianne," "Frank's Jukebox," "Flaws of Attraction," "A Voralberg Of The Mind," "Martha Graham & The Moon," "Lawrence, KS" and closer "Death by a Solid Argument," carrying the same wry, observational writing that has run through singer Chris Leo's work since his earlier post-hardcore band Native Nod.
Remain Obscure lands on Wrong Speed Records, the UK label run by former Comet Gain and Hey Colossus members. A vinyl pre-order is live now, with details on other physical formats still emerging, ahead of the September 18 release in the release calendar. The album extends a cult run inside American indie that dates back three decades.
The facts
- The album is called Remain Obscure and is the band's fifth
- It arrives on 18 September through Wrong Speed Records
- The first track is Kris Is Riding Horses In Ojai
- Their last full-length came out in 2023
- It was recorded at Retromedia Sound Studios in New Jersey with engineer Adam Vaccarelli
- Guests include Liam Bornowski on pedal steel and Sarah Schimeneck on vocals
- The 11-track list closes with "Death by a Solid Argument"
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