Anberlin Announce New Album ‘CURRENCY’ and Share “NEVERAFTER”
Photo by: Jacob Moniz
Anberlin are moving into their next chapter with CURRENCY, a new 11-track album that also marks Matty Mullins’ first full-length release as the band’s lead vocalist.
Mullins first appeared on two songs from 2024’s Vega, but CURRENCY gives listeners a fuller sense of how his voice fits into Anberlin’s sound. The record was produced by the band alongside Kellen McGregor of Memphis May Fire and includes a mix of previously unfinished material and songs developed around the current lineup.
Leading the release is “NEVERAFTER,” which arrives alongside a video directed by Anberlin drummer Nathan Young and Jacob Moniz.
While the change behind the microphone is an obvious part of the album, CURRENCY is less focused on introducing a different version of Anberlin than it is on what happens when familiar parts of life stop working the way they once did. Across the record, Mullins points toward heartbreak, addiction, shame, loss and the work required to move through them rather than stay buried underneath them.
“The overall theme of CURRENCY is what happens after everything you built your identity on falls apart,” Mullins explains. “It’s a journey through heartbreak, loss, addiction, shame, and the lies we tell ourselves. Instead of staying in the wreckage, it’s about finding the strength to face the truth, let go of what was killing you, and become someone new.”
It is a theme that gives the album a natural connection to where Anberlin currently stand. With a band history stretching back nearly 25 years, adding a new lead vocalist is no small adjustment, particularly when longtime fans already have such a strong relationship with the group’s catalog. CURRENCY allows that change to exist without pretending the years before it disappeared.
Some of the material began as unfinished songs from Anberlin’s past, while other tracks came together with the current lineup in place. That combination gives the album one foot in the band’s history while allowing Mullins to approach the songs as himself rather than simply fill an existing role.
Along with “NEVERAFTER,” the 11-song tracklist includes “Highstakes” and “Trenches,” which features Switchfoot. The collaboration extends beyond the studio this fall when Anberlin join Switchfoot for a lengthy run of dates on the Forever Now Tour.
Before meeting up with Switchfoot, Anberlin will head to Vans Warped Tour Mexico City on September 12, followed by several headline shows before the tour continues across the U.S. through November.
For longtime listeners, CURRENCY offers the first opportunity to hear this version of Anberlin across an entire album rather than a handful of songs. For Mullins, it is also the chance to establish what he brings to a band whose history was already well established before he stepped into the role.
With “NEVERAFTER” out and months of touring ahead, fans will not have to wait long to hear how that translates beyond the record.
