Lonely People with Power is the sixth studio album by American metal band Deafheaven, released on March 28, 2025, through Roadrunner Records.[1] It was the band's first album since joining the label in 2024.[2][3]
Both frontman George Clarke and guitarist Shiv Mehra said that the title is not an explicit political statement, but Clarke explained to Kerrang! that "power" refers to "influence" and how "to reach the top, you need to be anti-community and not watch out for other people."[10][11] He cited William Randolph Hearst as a precursor for the people that the album's title describes – those who, "in order to fulfill this lust for control, need an ironic detachment from the world around you, without generosity or humanism."[10]
Clarke's family informed multiple songs on Lonely People with Power. "Magnolia" is named after the state flower of Mississippi, where Clarke attended his uncle's funeral. "Winona" takes its title from the Mississippi town of the same name, where his grandparents lived and much of his family is buried.[10][12]
"Body Behavior" was written about an older male role model showing a younger boy pornography as an attempt at bonding. Musically, it was inspired by krautrock and Clarke described its bridge as "InfiniteGranite by way of InRainbows."[10][12]
On January 27, 2025, Deafheaven announced Lonely People with Power, simultaneously releasing its lead single, "Magnolia".[13][14] In an interview, Sam Law of Kerrang! noted the song's more aggressive sound compared to most of Deafheaven's other material, with vocalist George Clarke replying "Yes, 'Magnolia' is quite musically aggressive. And there are parts throughout the record that sound similar. There is definitely a degree of ferocity to Lonely People with Power, but it has always been an aim for Deafheaven to maintain an emotional core and not to see things through any singular lens."[15] The music video for "Magnolia", directed by Sean Stout and Chelsea Jade, was released on the same day.[16]
On January 29, 2025, the band announced their 2025 North American tour, supported by Gatecreeper and Trauma Ray. The tour began at The Belasco in Los Angeles on April 19 and concluded in Arizona in May, before moving to Europe for a string of music festival performances throughout the summer, including England's Outbreak Fest and Germany's Rock am Ring.[17] A second single, "Heathen", was released on February 25, 2025.[18]Lonely People with Power was released by Roadrunner Records on March 28, 2025, alongside a short film for "Winona".[19]
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, Lonely People with Power received an average score of 85 based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[21]
In a 9/10 review, Greg Hyde of The Line of Best Fit dubbed it an "artistic triumph" and Deafheaven's finest album to date, praising the band as having honed their "musicianship and songwriting abilities" and writing that the album "blends the strongest elements of a 'metal' album like New Bermuda with the strongest elements of a 'shoegaze' album like Infinite Granite, and features the band playing both metal and shoegaze better than they did on either album".[25] Brenna Ehrlich of Rolling Stone similary wrote that the band "mixes painterly lyrics, raw aggression, and earworm melodies on their best album yet".[30]Kerrang!'s Nick Russell wrote, "Six albums in, Deafheaven have made both their heaviest and most balanced, rounded record, perhaps ever."[24]
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