Upper Wilds Share "Reaper," Set East Coast Tour Starting Sept 15
The band's fourth album explores mortality with contributions from Jeff Tobias on electronic wind instrument.
UPPER WILDS, the Brooklyn band led by Parts & Labor co-founder Dan Friel, has released a new track titled Reaper ahead of the group's forthcoming album MERCURY, set for release August 28 via Thrill Jockey. Alongside the single, the band announced an East Coast tour that will open with an album release show at Union Pool in Brooklyn on September 15, featuring support from EDITRIX and CHASER.
The track features Jeff Tobias (Modern Nature, Thee Reps) on dizzying electronic wind instrument (EWI), harkening back to Friel's own circuit-bent synthesizer glissandos.
On the track, Friel shares:
'Reaper is about as lighthearted as you can get with a song about trying to outrun death. Our narrator laces up his shoes, and really likes his odds this time. Sonically it's a great platform for us to stretch out and collaborate with Jeff Tobias, who has now contributed to multiple Wilds albums (as well as some of my solo releases). Jeff had put together a new rig combining his electronic wind instrument (EWI) and a set of pedals and outboard gear that allows him to rip as he usually does on sax, but sounding totally alien.'
Along with the track release, Upper Wilds have announced an East Coast tour, kicking it off with an album release show at Union Pool on September 15 with support from Editrix and Chaser. Tour dates can be found below, with more to be announced soon. Mercury is out on August 28, 2026 via Thrill Jockey.
Stargazing Brooklyn noise-rock cosmonauts Upper Wilds—the power-trio led by Parts & Labor co-founder Dan Friel—return with another set of lean anthems filtered through a flamethrower. Their speediest, most explosive album yet, Mercury, is a meditation on death, with Friel expounding on his brush with skin cancer, climate change, funerals, Henry Kissinger, and a world seemingly on fire. Buoyed by recent tours with acts like Pelican, Uniform, Psychic Graveyard and Savak, the trio's increased speed is met with a precision that gives every hairpin turn more wallop.
Upper Wilds' space-rock adventures through their recent albums Mars, Venus and Jupiter came replete with stories of the heavens and humanity alike. On this fourth installment, the closest planet to the sun, things take a darker turn. The small, barren planet Mercury was named after the gods' speedy messenger and guide to the underworld, and the album syphons Upper Wilds' fuzz-pop aesthetics into concise, scorched anthems about the brevity and fragility of life with the ferocity of a band playing on the edge of extinction.
Mercury's molten, non-stop riffing is captured with grit and punch by engineer Travis Harrison (Guided By Voices, The Men) and is bolstered by longtime collaborator/saxophonist and fellow-New York mainstay Jeff Tobias (Sunwatchers) and vocalist Erin Dawson of LA-based experimental black metal band Genital Shame. Dawson injects more energy into the shout-chorus of the already blazing standout 'Fever' where Tobias's dizzying EWI (electronic wind instrument) on 'Reaper' harkens back to Friel's own circuit-bent synthesizer glissandos. Jason Binnick's basslines shine brighter than before dancing in tandem with Friel's guitar licks on 'Death Song #3' and bringing equal parts melody and thunderous weight to 'Green-Wood Cemetery.' Jeff Ottenbacher's drumming oscillates between machine gun fills and sledge hammer pounding, giving each riff more momentum and bite.
As Upper Wilds have explored new horizons both thematically and sonically, the trio have remained grounded by a melodic flair that mirrors their tongue-in-cheek playfulness and an undaunted, fiery attitude. Even as they traverse the deep calderas of mortality, a fear of dying and the grief of being left behind, Upper Wilds' Mercury revels in the thrill of defying death with ecstatic abandon.
Tour Dates
9/15 - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool * (TICKETS)
11/11 - Kingston, NY @ Tubby's #
11/12 - Brooklyn, NY @ Hart Bar #
11/13 - Swarthmore, PA @ Warehouse 3 ^
11/14 - Frederick, MD @ Cafe Nola ^
11/15 - Washington, DC @ Simple Underground ^
# w/ Axis:Sova
^ w/ Shadow Riot
* w/ Editrix and Chaser
Tracklist
1. Mercury
2. Fever
3. Death Song #3
4. Burning Bright
5. Reaper
6. Green-Wood Cemetery
7. Timekeeper
8. Dark Road
9. Hellfire
10. Dying Star
Additional tour dates announced so far include stops in Kingston, NY; Brooklyn, NY; Swarthmore, PA; Frederick, MD; and Washington, DC in November, with more shows to be announced. MERCURY marks the fourth installment in a series of space-themed albums from the trio, following MARS, VENUS, and JUPITER.
