Photo: Ashley Osborn
Twenty One Pilots teased a "new chapter" in their lore last week, but what we didn't know was that this would be the last in the multi-album story they've told through their music. On Thursday (February 29), the duo officially announced their new album Clancy and according to a press release it "marks the final chapter" in the intricate narrative TOP first laid out in 2015's Blurryface and continued in 2018's Trench. As fate would have it, the album is set to release on May 17, which coincides with the ninth anniversary of the album that started it all.
In addition to the announcement, TOP also shared Clancy's album opener and lead single "Overcompensate."
Before sharing the news, TOP broke down the fantastical story of Clancy in a four-minute-long video narrated by frontman Tyler Joseph. “I am trapped, stuck in a cycle I have never been able to break,” he says at the beginning of the trailer. “I want to believe this is the last time, but I don’t know for sure.”
The clip splices bits from old Twenty One Pilots music videos as Joseph tells the story, where he reveals he escaped the city of Dema, on the continent of Trench, and washed up on an island called Voldsøy. There, he received a "miraculous power." At the end of the video, Joseph covers his face with a new balaclava and announces “I am returning to Trench. I am Clancy.”
Clancy is the follow-up to 2021's Scaled and Icy. Watch the "Overcompensate" video and check out the Clancy album art and track listing below.
Clancy Track Listing
1. Overcompensate
2. Next Semester
3. Midwest Indigo
4. Routines In The Night
5. Backslide
6. Vignette
7. The Craving (Jenna’s Version)
8. Lavish
9. Navigating
10. Snap Back
11. Oldies Station
12. At the Risk Of Feeling Dumb
13. Paladin Strait