The prodigal son DC Maxwell has returned for 2026, announcing today his forthcoming album The Singerwith the release of his new single ‘Funeral Suit’. The Singer arrives independently on May 22. LISTEN HERE + WATCH HERE + PRE-SAVE LP HERE.

A vociferous performer with a sharp pen, DC Maxwell’s The Singer is a liturgy to the craft itself. Rooted in the thesis of the written word, he offers the living embodiment of song. His contemporary alt-rock sphere is the distillation of poetry, lyricism and the conviction of performance. What is the point of singing and dancing while the world burns? For DC Maxwell, it’s a salve.

Arriving alongside the announcement of The Singer is ‘Funeral Suit’, following the apocalyptic ‘Jesus’ Son’ and starkly romantic ‘Golden Light’, a clear departure from Maxwell’s former persona – “I wanted to write music that gives people in dark places hope,” he explains. Fiery and vulnerable at once, he harnesses the charisma of Alex Turner with the writhing transcendence of Perfume Genius on ‘Funeral Suit’. The song offers its listener something to stay for. “Take a breath on your knees, find a reason to believe,” DC sings over acoustic rock instrumentation.

Of ‘Funeral Suit’, Maxwell shares, “This song is an attempt to find reasons to live when the grim spectre of death is hanging over your head. I was thinking a lot about what there is to cling to in life when the mind gets fixated on death. I thought that one of the rocks in the storm was the closeness and physical presence of someone that means something to you. But I didn’t want to write a soppy love song. I wanted to write something that showed that love is not light and fluffy, but can be a fierce weapon against depression and nihilism in a chaotic world. This is a love song about choosing to turn away from the darkness and to try and fuck around and find out what is out there that can bring you joy.”

To see and hear The Singer is to believe. Presenting the dogma that faith in art can empower, the record is confessional and off-kilter. Rife with acoustic guitars and percussion pushed to extremes. Ghostly, at times intense and above all, basking in hope. DC’s creative maxim throughout, a display of the soul that possesses song, suggests influence from Marina Abramovic’s interplay between artist and audience, to the dialogue of Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files.

Alongside DC Maxwell’s considered lyricism includes features from his community in Melbourne, produced by Bonnie Knight (Amyl & the Sniffers, Angie McMahon), to vocal contributions by Hatchieand Georgia Maq, Good Morning’s Stefan Blair on piano instrumentation, and a fateful feature from American songwriter and actor Will Oldham, pka Bonnie “Prince” Billy (A Ghost Story, The Bikeriders, I See a Darkness). Evocatively preluded by Maxwell’s live reputation, setting ablaze every venue he steps into with a passionate live show fast becoming the stuff of legend, The Singer is immediate and ever memorable.