The prolific Ty Segall announces a new (and sixteenth) studio album Possession; it’ll be available on May 30th through Drag City, and you can listen here to its title track. Ty maps out an abiding view of the American frontier, with lyrical fables co-written by longtime collaborator, filmmaker Matt Yoka, with strings, horns, and his own piano playing, combined with his delirious guitar hooks and vocal melodies, the result is one of his most inventive songs yet.

New single ‘Possession’ follows the previously-released ’Fantastic Tomb‘. With lyrics by Matt, it’s a compulsive roller whose first line — “A bible placed beside the butter by a farmer of misfortune in the winter” — suggests an unusual Segall vignette. A rich, cinematic rock-fable unpacks the golden age of the witch hunt, a pagan concept brought to America by foreign devils (on the Mayflower, that is). Ty leaves the finger-pointing to the villagers, finding a romping chorus in their battle cry while asking: if it ain’t unbroken, why not fix it? That’s the power of Possession!

Over the years, Ty and Matt have brainstormed the visual worlds of Goodbye Bread, Manipulator, Emotional Mugger, and plenty more. As a non-musician, Matt’s language sense is different from the one Ty’s amassed as a player of music, and on Possession, each acts as writer and editor as they throw the conceptual ball back and forth translating general vibes and feels into wicked lyric imagery. Taking back alleys through complicated cityscapes, Ty scans the wreckage scattered all around, singing about the end of the rope while resisting defeat — suggesting an ecstatic new empire to build as he cruises the countryside in his glittering craft.

Ty is in the midst of a solo acoustic tour throughout North America. He and his band will support Primus on tour throughout North America this fall with a headline run set for October.