Michigan emo band Charmer have announced their third album, Downpour, due out May 23 via Counter Intuitive Records. It’s their first full-length since 2020’s Ivy, and it also follows 2023’s Seney Stretch, an EP of more somber material that the band said “didn’t quite fit” with the other stuff they’d been writing. (As pointed out in a new Stereogum feature, the members have also been busy outside of Charmer. Two of them now also play in Liquid Mike and three recently became parents.)
In contrast to Charmer’ earlier material, new single “Arrowhead” finds Charmer embracing the kind of hard-yet-tuneful emo that you might’ve found on Victory or Drive-Thru in the early 2000s, and it was produced by someone who knows a thing or two about that era: The Movielife/I Am The Avalanche drummer Brett Romnes (who also produced the new Anxious album). It reminds me of that moment right before everything really blew up, when bands were embracing pop songcraft but fame and stardom still didn’t seem like a concern or even a possibility. It was a brief but exciting period, and Charmer make it sound fresh all these years later. Downpour also includes Charmer’s 2023 single “Rose Thorns,” and you can stream that and “Arrowhead” below.
Charmer will also be supporting Ontario emo band Arm’s Length at their just-announced release shows for their anticipated sophomore album There’s A Whole World Out There, which arrives a week before Charmer’s new album (on 5/16) via Pure Noise. Those shows are also with Brooklyn emo band Wakelee, who put out the very good new EP Doghouse last month, and the run includes stops in Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto, and Philly before wrapping up at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom on June 14. An artist presale starts today (3/11) at noon, using the password FUNNYFACE25. All dates are listed below.
Those release shows happen after Arm’s Length’s tour with Prince Daddy & the Hyena, Riley!, and Bike Routes, which includes NYC-area shows on May 22 at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park and May 23 at Amityville Music Hall on Long Island. You can find all dates for that tour here.
Tracklist
Linger
Arrowhead
Blue Jay
Swords Dance
Medicine
Scream
Night
Rose Thorns
Watercolor
Blink
Galick Gun
Arm’s Length / Charmer / Wakelee — 2025 Tour Dates
June 9 – Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
June 10 – Cleveland, OH – The Roxy
June 11 – Toronto, ON – Axis
June 13 – Philadelphia, PA – Ukie Club
June 14 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom