Alabama Shakes’ first release in ten years, “Another Life” is a cinematic, cathartic fever dream – a raw and radiant resurrection of the fire, fury, and fearless soul-rock that made them legends.
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Stream: “Another Life” – Alabama Shakes
Of all the vinyl records in my collection, few are more played, more worn, more loved, than Alabama Shakes’ 2015 masterpiece, Sound and Color. The genre-bending, soul-soaked rock band, helmed by the inimitable Brittany Howard, were a singular force of nature in the early 2010s – and while individual members have gone off and done their own things, often to great success, the chemistry that is and was “Alabama Shakes” has been dearly missed over these past ten very long years.
Until now, that is.
Here we are
The most unusual circumstances
How could I ask you to settle?
What if there is something better
For us next time?
Ooh, I’m dying to tell you
That I found a way to say goodbye
So it doesn’t hurt so much, ooh
When you cross my mind
Can we try again?
(Can we try in another life?)
One more time again
(Can we try in another life?)
I won’t make you cry again
(Can we try?)
Can we try in another life?
Released August 29 via Island Records, “Another Life” marks a fresh start for the legendary trio of Brittany Howard, Heath Fogg, and Zac Cockrell as they reunite and light another red-hot fuse, picking up right where they left with a song full of fire and fury. Recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios with longtime collaborator Shawn Everett, “Another Life” feels like a transmission from the cosmos – smoky keys and a bluesy guitar drift in like storm clouds before Howard’s voice cracks them open. “Can we try again? One more time again? Can we try in another life?” the dynamic frontwoman howls with gut-wrenching strength, pouring pure passion and raw emotion into a heavy, heartrending, cinematic fever dream.
Howard calls the track a meditation on the lives we carry: “When we wrote ‘Another Life,’ I was thinking about all the lives we carry,” she tells Atwood Magazine.
“The ones we’re living right now, the ones that slipped away because of different choices, the what ifs, the what wasn’t meant to be, the goodbyes, and the chance encounters that feel divine. This song is about those threads and how they stretch across time and space, connecting every version of who we are. It’s about letting them come together, letting them harmonize, and realizing that goodbye isn’t really goodbye. It’s more like I’ll see you later. A collective story that never stops unfolding. I’m glad we opened this door into this reality of us making music together again.”
Do I mind?
Never knowing what can happen
Never knowing if wе’d last
Maybe we can find some answеrs
Maybe next time
Who am I trying to lie to?
I can’t pretend you didn’t just cross my mind
When I hurt you, I hurt myself
And the feelings just won’t heal
I can’t walk it back, ooh
Baby, goodbye
Can we try again?
(Can we try in another life?)
One more time again
(Can we try in another life?)
I won’t make you cry again
(Can we try?)
Can we try in another life?
Can we try in another life?
“Another Life” is a powerful welcome back – cinematic, soul-stirring, and unrelenting in its ache. Every phrase Howard sings, every lament she cries is steeped in yearning and reckoning, every instrumental moment full of intense, untethered feeling. Ten years on from Sound and Color, Alabama Shakes are once again blazing their own trail, sounding just as fearless, fiery, and free as they did when they first rewrote the rules of modern rock.
“Another Life” doesn’t just reignite that flame – it reminds us why we missed it so much in the first place. With a third Alabama Shakes studio album on the way, the future of music smolders once more with gritty rock and bluesy swagger.
Here we are
The most unusual of circumstances
How could I tell you forever?
What if there is somewhere better
On the other side?
Ooh, I’m dying to tell you
We’ve already said goodbye
When I hurt you, I hurt myself
And the feelings just won’t heal
I can’t walk it back, ooh
Baby, goodbye
Can we try again?
(Can we try in another life?)
Try again
(Can we try in another life?)
I won’t make you cry again
(Can we try)
Can we try in another life?
Can we try in another life?
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Stream: “Another Life” – Alabama Shakes
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© Bobbi Rich
© Bobbi Rich
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