Last year, Coheed & Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez reactivated his folktronica solo project The Prize Fighter Inferno for his first new music in eight years, the Stray Bullets EP, and now he’s gearing up for a new album, The City Introvert, the project’s first full-length since his 2006 debut My Brother’s Blood Machine. It’s due this Friday (4/23) via Evil Ink Records (pre-order).

According to a press release, Claudio began writing the album “in March 2020 when [his] grandfather fell ill and simultaneously, his wife began battling an auto-immune disease. This meant that any potential exposure to the coronavirus could have deadly consequences at home, making a brief goodbye to his ailing grandfather unlikely. Sanchez found himself coping with the darkness and uncertainty the only way he knew how—writing. The result is reviving a rare, introspective solo project with 10-track LP.”

The EP includes all four original songs from the Stray Bullets EP (everything except the “Stand By Me” cover), as well as recent single “Sweet Talker” and the brand new “Rock Bottom.” “‘Rock Bottom’ is a crossroad of emotions,” Claudio tells us, “where I relive the strange circumstances that surrounded losing my grandfather during the pandemic and the curiosity of having to live the remainder of my life without my wife.” It’s a devastating song, and Claudio conveys its message with an intimate, auto-tune-fueled delivery in the vein of Bon Iver’s “Woods.”

The black-and-white video (directed by Jenny He and starring Edward Brence) takes place in NYC and it plays off the same emotions that are present in Claudio’s lyrics. That video premieres in this post, and you can watch it right here:

Also listen to “Sweet Talker” and stream the Stray Bullets EP:

 

Tracklist
01. More Than Love
02. Death Rattle
03. Crazy for You
04. Stray Bullets
05. Rock Bottom
06. Holiday Fool
07. Sweet Talker
08. Roll for Initiative
09. She’s the Brains, My Sweetheart
10. Stay Where You Are

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