The Flaming Lips announce The Teardrop Throbs, first album without Steven Drozd

The Flaming Lips have announced The Teardrop Throbs, their first full-length since 2020's American Head. The album lands January 22 and marks two significant breaks with the band's past: it's their first record since 1990's In A Priest Driven Ambulance not issued by Warner, and their first since 1991's Hit To Death In The Future Head made without Steven Drozd. Jack White's Third Man Records is putting it out.

Drozd joined as a drummer in 1991 and grew into a multi-instrumentalist and one of the primary architects of the group's sound alongside founder and frontman Wayne Coyne. His 2024 departure remains disputed: Coyne has said Drozd quit, while Drozd maintains he was pushed out. Speaking to Stereogum earlier this year, he said that after he entered treatment for addiction, the band carried on with its schedule without him. Drozd has since been working on a solo debut.

The first single is "God Will Control The Werewolves," a psych-pop ballad whose soaring strings and fuzzed-out lead guitar recall The Soft Bulletin. Coyne shares writing credits with Matthew Kirksey, Derek Brown and Taylor Johnson, the latter of whom co-produced the album with Dave Fridmann and Scott Booker, with additional production from Jon Fridmann and Mike Fridmann.

Coyne said the lyrics began as a story about playing hide and seek with his young sons, Bloom and Rex, under a full moon, after a family stay by the ocean left them fixated on lunar cycles. The 13-track album also includes "Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell Part Two," a nod to the Yoshimi era.

The band has shows booked in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London between January and April, with two nights in each city.