Today, the 24-year-old Minnesota-raised, Vermont-based artist Lutalo (they / them) shares “The Bed” / “Broken Twin,” two new glimpses of the combination of trenchant cultural critique and “fuzzed-out sharp edges reminiscent of TV On The Radio“ (The Guardian) that drives their debut album The Academy, out September 20 via Winspear. Listen to “The Bed” / “Broken Twin” here and preorder The Academy here.

“The Bed” is warmly strummed folk rock in the vein of Moses Sumney or Bob Dylan at their most jumped up. Of the track, Lutalo says, “is about being educated about American propaganda and war mongering at a young age from my father.” They continue: “’The Bed’ is referencing how as citizens of the country we have no choice but participate whether directly or indirectly with the dealings of our state, and to be indoctrinated into this mindset that supports its current standing.”

Meanwhile “Broken Twin” is a swaggering and moodily anthemic track that invokes the dusky atmosphere of King Krule as it wrestles with “roughly, the 3rd dimension” and “the friction of opposing forces.”

As Lutalo elaborates: “Everything in this universe is having a reaction or response to something or even nothingness. An even more simplified representation being the sine wave, that makes up all forms of atomic structures at different frequencies. In all, this song covers an understanding of self and other…a conscious reminder that as humans we complicate something that can be simple.”

Watch the video for “The Bed” / “Broken Twin” here.

The FADER describes lead single “Ocean Swallows Him Whole” as “a pleasing turn into a surly form of post-punk complete with chugging basslines and a striking synth rattle,” while the newsletter Inbox Infinity calls it “tastefully updated mid-2000s alt-rock.” Watch the “Ocean Swallows Him Whole” video here.

Playing every instrument on The Academy, Lutalo crafts an album that serves as a potent backdrop to their literarily assembled character sketches and personal reckonings. Throughout, Lutalo’s exhibits an earnest and unsentimental curiosity about the world, dredging up empathy for anyone navigating their way through it.

Named after the St. Paul, MN school they attended on scholarship — the same school F. Scott Fitzgerald attended and famously dissected throughout his work — The Academy  marks a period of re-invigoration and self-actualization for Lutalo. Diverging from the gentler sounds of last year’s AGAIN EP or their collab with bedroom pop phenom Claud on “Running” from earlier this year, The Academy is an altogether knottier and bloodier affair that traverses down fresh sonic avenues while maintaining Lutalo’s idiosyncratic voice. What results is a beguiling and visceral amalgam of rock, folk, post-punk, and soul paired with nuanced and humanizing observations on class disparity, privilege, and more informed by their time as an interloper into the elite world of The Academy.

Lutalo will be unveiling these new songs live on a series of UK festival dates before touring with Nilüfer Yanya in North America this fall. See all dates and info below.