Welcome to the new era of Twenty Øne Pilots.
The genre-less duo has found yet another new way to dangle the world under their blackened hands. After a year of car-radio silence on social media, the eye finally opened this morning onto new content: two singles with music videos, an upcoming album entitled "Trenches", and the Bandito tour announcement. Long gone is the black and red theme of last year. Now the skeleton clique is getting a new narrative from the Ohio duo by way of a man named Clancy and a place called Dema.
It's unclear currently how the entirety of Clancy's story will play out in the fifth-studio album "Trenches" but TØP has already started to give glimpses with the singles "Jumpsuit" and "Nico and the Niners."
The first single "Jumpsuit" is both the beginning of an apocalypse and an attempt to escape from one. With a heavier anthem sound throughout, a signature melodic piano break-down, and the unrivaled voice of a tortured soul, Tyler Joseph, and Josh Dun didn't hold back in announcing they're wide awake and ready to fight.
As supported through documents shared by the character Clancy on the website dma.org, the music video is the first introduction of Dema, a walled-in city controlled by nine bishops who work to keep the inhabitants within the walls. The jumpsuits, with their bright yellow strips, are worn by a rebel group called banditos as safety uniforms against the bishops who are unable to see the color.
"Nico and the Niners" works in continuum with "Jumpsuit" as the rallying cry for the banditos. The song asks it's listeners to rise up against the internal struggles represented by the collective group of bishops, to ask help of the banditos, and to fight for freedom from Dema. The song has the upbeat tempo and dark undertones that have previously accompanied hits off past albums. The pitched down voice throughout the background and bridge of the song brings back remnants of the alter-ego character Blurryface- insinuating that the new persona has some of that heavydirtysoul left, although not as overbearing as before.
As parts of the story continue to fall into place, it is already clear that the allegorical themes of self-doubt, depression, and hope, topics the duo have never shied away from, will run through the album. The storyline is a reminder that neither the bishops nor the negativity of depression controls you. The banditos will prevail.
"Trenches" will be available October 5th and information for the Banditos tour including dates and ticket registration can be found on http://www.twentyonepilots.com/home#tour
