All Distortions Are Intentional

Neck Deep have officially invited fans to join them on their next journey with the announcement of their highly anticipated fourth album All Distortions Are Intentional, due for release on July 24, 2020 via Hopeless Records. No mere collection of songs, All Distortions Are Intentional is conceptually rich, with themes of disconnection, existential confusion, and the search for meaning.

 The album tells the story of a loner named Jett, who lives in a place dubbed Sonderland, a combination of "Wonderland" and the somewhat obscure word "sonder": the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own, with their own ambitions and worries. "It's that strange existential realization that you are not the entire world," explains singer Ben Barlow. "Everyone around you feels and lives the same way that you do. You're just an extra in their story."

The concept kicked off after the writing of lead single "Lowlife",which welcomes fans into Sonderland along with protagonist Jett and the love of his life, Alice. Fans can meet these characters and enter their world with today's music video release, created by YHELLOW with the original treatment ideas coming straight from Barlow's mind. It is vibrant and visceral and is the perfect invitation into the world of Sonderland. Although the songs on All Distortions Are Intentional are told through the lenses of these characters, it is still uniquely reflective of the lives that each member of Neck Deep have lived. "Writing 'Lowlife', it was like I was tapping into this part of my own personality, my own psyche" shares Barlow.

All Distortions Are Intentional was produced by Matt Squire (Panic! At The Disco, Ariana Grande, One Direction) and was recorded in Wales at the legendary Monnow Valley Studio, which has been a recording home for artists like Oasis, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Joss Stone and more. Squire and Neck Deep tucked themselves away at the world famous residential studio, located in the gorgeous but remote Wye Valley in the heart of the band's native Wales. The decision to create the album 'at home' was an important one; on the eve of what's certain to be Neck Deep's greatest exposure to the world yet, it's a grateful and decisive acknowledgment of where they've come from, both literally and figuratively.

Meanwhile, Ben's brother and longtime Neck Deep collaborator Seb Barlow handled the album's gargantuan mix, a process that saw him grow so close to the material that he formally joined the band as bassist at the completion of the process.

The forthcoming album is the follow up to 2017's monumental release, The Peace And The Panic, which catapulted the band into mainstream success with a #2 charting position on the US Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and welcomed their first U.S. Late Night TV performance. All Distortions Are Intentional is a journey of self-discovery and personal expression not unlike the rise of the band itself.