British rock band Muse launched its tenth studio album, The WOW! Signal, with a unique publicity stunt: a livestream of the music video for its lead single, “Be With You,” beamed from 20 miles above Earth. The video, starring Ella Balinska (Resident Evil, The Occupant) and directed by Nico Paolillo (Deafheaven, Lousy OMENS), premiered while floating in the stratosphere, courtesy of a partnership with Sent Into Space.
The album, released June 26 via Warner Records, draws inspiration from one of the most enduring mysteries in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI): the “Wow!” signal. Detected in 1977 by the Big Ear radio telescope, the 72-second-long narrowband radio signal originated from the constellation Sagittarius. Its intensity and bandwidth suggested a possible extraterrestrial origin, but the signal was never detected again, and its source remains unknown. The researcher who initially recorded the signal famously circled the sequence “6EQUJ5” on the printout and penned the exclamation “WOW!” – a moment that has since permeated popular culture, including serving as a foundational element in the Netflix science fiction series 3 Body Problem.
Muse’s new album explores themes of “cosmic mystery, existential hope, and the exhilarating possibility of contact with something far greater than ourselves,” according to a statement from Warner Music. The title tracklist includes “The Dark Forest,” “Nightshift Superstar,” “Shimmering Scars,” “Cryogen,” “Hexagons,” “The Sickness In You & I,” “Unravelling,” “Hush,” and “Space Debris.”
Frontman Matt Bellamy’s lyrics on “Be With You” reflect a search for something beyond the mundane: “It seems my light’s been swallowed up, I’ve used up every ounce of luck / I need to leap into the fire, uncover a higher power, and reach for something new.”
Muse, formed in Teignmouth, Devon, England in 1994, has achieved significant global success, selling over 30 million albums worldwide. The band has received multiple Brit Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, and NME Awards, and has twice been awarded a Grammy Award for best rock album, first for The Resistance in 2009 and again for Drones in 2015. They have landed three songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and ten albums on the Billboard 200 chart, including a number one album with Drones. In the United Kingdom, Muse has secured seven number-one albums, most recently with 2022’s Will of the People, which also debuted at number one in Australia.
The band’s interest in cinematic soundscapes is well-documented. Singer Matt Bellamy has previously cited Hans Zimmer, composer for films like The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar, as a major influence, particularly on the 2012 album The 2nd Law and, more recently, on the song “Isolated System.” Bellamy has expressed a desire to compose a film soundtrack, noting the significant undertaking involved. He previously stated in 2012 that Zimmer was “the greatest film composer of recent times.”
A second package, containing stickers for a limited-edition vinyl release, is also being sent into the atmosphere, catering to the band’s dedicated fanbase.
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