Hot Chip have announced their ninth album, A Long Way From Kansas, set for release on 8 January 2027. The London band have shared the first single, Random Violence, a tribute to Optimo’s Keith McIvor, and confirmed a UK and European tour that includes London’s Exhibition White City on 12 March.
The album title paraphrases The Wizard of Oz, nodding to Dorothy, her dog, and the distance they needed to travel to get home and find some sense of normality. The band say the record finds them at their most primal. Artwork is by Scott King, and the announcement photo is by Fiona Garden.
Random Violence is described as a majestic tribute to McIvor, also known as JD Twitch. Goddard sings, “And your friends will tell their stories / About a man who spent his life / Sending songs out into the world / Tall ships in the wind,” before Alexis Taylor joins with, “You gave me something to believe in.” Al Doyle calls the song’s effect a “human connection”.
Joe Goddard said: “Last year in September our old friend and brilliant DJ Keith McIvor of Optimo in Glasgow passed away after a diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumour a few months earlier. He largely inspired the words of the song. He was a passionate music lover and a staunch believer in socialism. Many of the words relate directly to his death and to memories of being in Sub Club in Glasgow where we met 20 years ago.”
The video, directed by Jack Cole, features the all-female progressive morris dancing side Boss Morris. It is framed as a celebration of togetherness, music, resistance, love and a life well lived. Al Doyle said: “We invited some woodland spirits, cursed animals and crazed dancers to join us in a celebration of humanity, remembrance and resistance. The genesis of the idea came from the Optimo Espookio Halloween parties we experienced at Sub Club and we wanted to capture that feeling in the video. It was exactly as much fun as it looks, which is to say we had an absolute blast.” Watch the video and stream Random Violence.
To mark the announcement and McIvor’s legacy, Hot Chip will DJ with friends at Glasgow’s Sub Club on Wednesday 21 October. The album follows their appearance in the second season of Netflix’s Beef earlier this year, playing live alongside Oscar Isaac, and the 20th anniversary of The Warning in May, which they marked on NPR’s Song Exploder.
Recorded earlier this year at Joe Goddard and Al Doyle’s East London studio, Relax and Enjoy, the album responds to what the band describe as a harsher world, with distortion as a watchword. Alexis Taylor said: “A Long Way From Kansas reflects the general sense that the world we live in, the world we were making our record in, is particularly harsh, discordant, violent and depressing. Maybe none of that’s new, and that doesn’t mean that every song is talking about the world and politics and genocide, but it was an unavoidable backdrop while making the music.”
Beth Ditto and Eddie Chacon guest, while Owen Clarke and Felix Martin also sing, the latter for the first time on a Hot Chip record. Taylor added that a choir and group singing open out the band’s “interior world”. The 11-track album runs:
- Stuck Around
- Waiting Around
- Random Violence
- The Mask Is Slipping
- Splinter
- Shortcut To Love
- Me In Your Head (feat. Beth Ditto)
- Hook Me Up
- Secular Hymns
- The Garden (feat. Eddie Chacon)
- Crushing
A Long Way From Kansas is available to pre-order as a deluxe double gatefold LP with an additional 7″, a standard double gatefold LP, CD and digital. First pressings of the deluxe and standard LPs come in a limited-edition spot gloss and foil blocking sleeve. Pre-order via Hot Chip’s store, Domino Mart or digitally. A pre-order unlocks tour pre-sale access, with general sale from Friday 23 October.
The tour follows previous live accolades including a sold-out four-night residency at Brixton Academy. Festival regulars, the band are also booked for a main stage DJ set at Birmingham’s Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival on Friday 10 July 2026.
Upcoming DJ date
- Wed 21 October: Sub Club, Glasgow
Upcoming live dates
- Fri 26 February: Astra, Berlin
- Sun 28 February: La Madeleine, Brussels
- Mon 1 March: Paradiso, Amsterdam
- Tue 2 March: Le Bataclan, Paris
- Thu 4 March: 3Olympia, Dublin
- Sat 6 March: Leeds Beckett Students’ Union, Leeds
- Mon 8 March: SWG3 Galvanizers, Glasgow
- Tue 9 March: Albert Hall, Manchester
- Wed 10 March: O2 Academy Bristol
- Fri 12 March: Exhibition White City, London
Image credits: Fiona Garden
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