Alabama Shakes will end an 11-year absence from record stores on Friday with the release of "I Must Be Dreaming," the Alabama-formed trio's first full album since 2015's "Sound & Color," which won three Grammy Awards including best alternative music album.
The 11-track record was recorded in Nashville at Sound Emporium Studios and Blackbird Studio with producer Shawn Everett, whose past credits include work with The Killers. It follows a slow, deliberate return for the band — Brittany Howard, Heath Fogg and Zac Cockrell — which reunited for a one-off performance in 2024 before mounting its first formal tour in eight years during 2025.
Two songs from the record, "Another Life" and "American Dream," have already been released as singles, with a third, "I Feel Hope Coming," arriving alongside the album announcement. In comments to NME, Howard described the double meaning behind the album's title.
It could be saying, "I must be dreaming, because the world is so crazy right now." But it could also mean, "I must be dreaming, because the world is so incredibly beautiful."
Brittany Howard, to NME
Howard said both readings can be true simultaneously, a tension that runs through much of the new material. Discussing "I Feel Hope Coming" specifically, she pointed to younger listeners as a source of optimism, saying the generation coming up can see through the political lies shaping the current moment.
The band's hiatus, which began after touring behind "Sound & Color" wound down in 2018, was never formally announced as a breakup, but members pursued other work in the interim, including two acclaimed solo albums from Howard. Her return to the group, and to the falsetto-and-fuzz sound that made Alabama Shakes a fixture of American rock radio in the early 2010s, arrives as the band prepares to tour behind the new record later this year.
"I Must Be Dreaming" is out Friday on Island Records, with the full 11-song tracklist including "Tea Time," "Garden," "Time," "Friends," "Easy," "How Love's Supposed to Go," "Waist Deep" and "Tied to You" alongside the three advance singles.
The band's 2015 breakthrough made Howard one of the more distinctive vocalists in mainstream rock, and her live shows since have carried a reputation few young bands sustain over an extended pause. Advance reaction to the two released singles has been positive among longtime fans, though the record's commercial reception will not be clear until sales and streaming figures post after Friday's release. A tour behind the album is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
