“Heavy and playful concepts”: this is how Dan Reynolds describes the new album “Loom” by Imagine Dragons

NEW YORK (AP) — The ambiguity of Imagine Dragons’ next album starts from the cover.

Two standing figures separated by a kind of stream, separated by a rising sun. Or is it a sunset? Singer-songwriter Dan Reynolds, who dreamed it up, sees it both ways.

“You can’t really tell if it’s a sunset or a sunrise, and then there are two separate people standing in front of this. It really sums it up thematically when I listen to it,” he told The Associated Press.

“Is it the beginning of something new, or is it the end of something? And dusk and dawn always feel like that to me. It could be one or the other.”

From the paranoid and slightly demented hip-hop-rock opening track “Wake Up,” with Reynolds singing “Everybody’s coming for you/Wake up!” (The Whole World’s Coming for You/Wake Up!), to the lilting guitars of “Take Me to the Beach,” it’s clear that the nine-track album titled “Loom” isn’t one thing. It will go on sale on June 28.

It’s the first album since Reynolds’ divorce from musician Aja Volkman and has songs about moving forward, the sunny and flirtatious “Nice to Meet Ya,” but also looking back, like the bittersweet “In Your Corner” and “Don’t t Forget Me”, with the lyrics “Guess we got lost in the light”.

“I start creating and what comes out is what it is. That’s how I’ve been since I was 12. I try not to think about it too much,” Reynolds says. “It’s just an honest outlet sonically, lyrically, of how I feel in the moment.”

For the epic “Kid,” Reynolds says he came to the studio with a somewhat chaotic life. He simply expressed what he was feeling on the drums. Then the band joined in. The song, inspired by the ’90s music he loves, like Gorillaz, became an exhortation to America, so adding a chorus made sense. Its lyrics say “You got to get yourself together, kid/You got to get it together.”

“We had a lot of fun creating it in the studio. I love the juxtaposition of things that are a little ironic, but also maybe dark,” he says. “Heavy concepts, but playful at the same time.”

A new way

“Loom” was recorded in a new way for Imagine Dragons, which includes guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman. For one thing, the band abandoned its usual preference for multiple producers in favor of just one: the Swedish duo of Mattman & Robin.

Another refreshing change was starting from scratch. “We usually go into the record with a bunch of demos that we’ve already self-produced and done on our own,” Reynolds says. “But in this case we had a bunch of demos and we just scrapped everything and started with a clean slate.”

“Loom” arrives two years after “Mercury,” a raw, confessional double album that deals with heartbreak, tragedy and Reynolds’ struggles with sobriety.

“Eyes Closed,” the first single from the new album, signals a change, with a big stormy sound and chest-pounding lyrics: “I’m back from the dead, from the back of my head/Been gone and facin’ horrors that should never be said.”

Reynolds says he was looking for a tempestuous and arrogant vibe, but at the same time revealed a vulnerable core. “It was really about being something that on the outside looks good and strong,” he says, “but on the inside it’s about to break.”

The album’s title, “Loom,” has multiple meanings. “Just because something is coming doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. It could be good,” he says. “I also love the idea of ​​the double meaning of that, a kind of tapestry.”

Tour

The Dragons will tour North America in support of “Loom,” kicking off June 30 in Camden, New Jersey, at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion and hitting cities including Dallas, Seattle; Toronto; West Palm Beach, Florida; Denver; Charlotte, North Carolina; Phoenix; Salt Lake City; and will conclude on October 22 at the Hollywood Bowl.

Reynolds says touring is deep in Imagine Dragons’ DNA and talks about playing live as if it were a massive therapeutic endeavor that leads to their shows.

“It’s a bunch of people in the same room together realizing that they’re not alone in their feelings,” he says. “I don’t necessarily need them to feel happy or sad or anything. I just want them to look around and see that other people are feeling something too and feel, ‘I’m not alone.'”

The songs from “Loom” will be in the repertoire, of course. Reynolds considers it one of the band’s fastest productions, although there are ballads and slow moments.

“A lot of the record is trying to come to terms with just accepting. Things come and they get closer, for better or worse, and there’s really nothing you can do but accept it,” he says. “I haven’t learned how to do it yet, but we will.”