The Mute album A Ban on Plastic Bag Bans arrives on March 5, 2027, an eleventh studio record from songwriter Angus Andrew and experimental outfit Liars tracked across Michigan and Australia. The project breaks a five-year recording silence following 2021 LP The Apple Drop, framing sonic friction around municipal legislation and airborne pollutants. Andrew conceived the title from a Michigan statute barring local municipal governments from prohibiting plastic shopping containers.
The narrative seed took root after Andrew moved his family to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where emissions from a paper packaging facility fouled the surrounding residential neighborhoods. The industrial plant released concentrations of hydrogen sulphide severe enough to trigger regional health alerts advising residents to remain indoors.
Lead single "Ice Pick, Kalamazoo" couples abrasive instrumentation with environmental audio captured near the plant. Andrew built the arrangements alongside longtime touring drummer Laurence Pike and multi-instrumentalist Cameron Deyell, cutting tracks out of unscripted studio improvisation. Andrew directed the accompanying visual clip using a 3D camera during a local No Kings civic demonstration. The finished clip sequences stereoscopic still photographs into a flickering montage of the civic rally.
Stage appearances resume across Europe in October 2026, punctuated by a full performance of 2006 album Drum’s Not Dead at Kraków’s Unsound Festival to commemorate the record’s twentieth anniversary. The overseas schedule marks Andrew’s return to touring following work heading independent imprint No Gold and founding an experimental music festival program. Club dates begin October 3, 2026, in Nantes at Le Lieu Unique, continuing to Milan, Belgrade, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris. A lone UK concert is set for London’s Moth Club on October 20, 2026.
