La Dispute have shared Act II from their upcoming album No One Was Driving The Car, which is a three-part, nearly-nine-minute song called “Environmental Catastrophe Film.” Vocalist Jordan Dreyer says:
the second act—more or less the thematic center of the record—is a single song split into three parts. it begins with a boy beside a creek-bed in a wooded area near home, holding a snapping turtle above the flowing water, before tracing its winding path to the river around which the city was first built, and through a brief history of the city itself—its settlement, the creation of the christian reformed church, and the furniture industry that dominated its early economic growth.
from there we return to the boy beside the creek. he sees his own lack of control in the flailing creature he holds, then again at church, listening to a sermon delivered on the calvinist doctrines of predestination, man’s innate and total depravity, and the irresistible grace of his family’s god. at the end of it, he returns for the first time in adulthood to that same church, at the funeral of an old friend dead by suicide, from which the conversation shifts back to the creek as metaphor for life and time, and to what we ultimately maintain the least control over in life: that we can change neither the fact it moves nor the direction it ceaselessly does.
in the final section, the city’s history of the furniture manufacturing returns as additional metaphor, presenting us as un-hewn wood, locked within the lathe of time and against its blade turned, to carve away with each rotation fragments of self en route to new forms—perhaps useful, perhaps beautiful, perhaps not. and as the layers shaved away fall to ground, they are swept up at day’s end and thrown inside the furnace: to burn and be breathed in as smoke, felt as heat, and to return one day as rain from the atmosphere in which they’ve dissipated. what’s left on the lathe is given purpose—placed as slats in chair backs or as table legs—and from this image the focus narrows again: to life with another—where, ultimately, the narrator finds his own comfort against the tumult—via the furniture moved and used by them from one shared home to another, and the person with whom he’s shared them.
“Environmental Catastrophe Film” is a climactic song that goes from La Dispute’s softer spoken word side to explosive post-hardcore and back and then back again. It’s a hell of a track and you can check out its video (made by Jordan himself) below.
La Dispute will also be on tour later this year, including a Brooklyn show on September 11 at Warsaw. All dates are listed below.
No One Was Driving The Car comes out September 5 via Epitaph, and we’ve got an exclusive tri-color vinyl variant up for pre-order now.
La Dispute — 2025 Tour Dates
07/10 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club – SOLD OUT
07/11 – Cheltenham, UK – 2000 Trees Festival
07/12 – Cheltenham, UK – 2000 Trees Festival
07/14 – Hannover, DE – MusikZentrum – SOLD OUT
07/15 – Nürnberg, DE – Hirsch
07/16 – Karlsruhe, DE – Substage
07/18 – Cologne, DE – Open Stage Suedbruecke (w/ Enter Shikari) – SOLD OUT
07/19 – Herk-de-Stad, BE – Rock Herk Festival
07/20 – Cuxhaven, DE – Deichbrand Festival
09/05 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
09/06 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre
09/07 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
09/08 – Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit Hall
09/10 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
09/11 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
09/12 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
09/13 – Washington, DC – Howard Theater
09/14 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre
09/16 – Orlando, FL – The Beacham
09/17 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
09/18 – Nashville, TN – Basement East
09/19 – Columbus, OH – King of Clubs
09/20 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe at Old National Centre
