With a new album from beloved Michigan indie pop heroes THE LEGAL MATTERS announced and up for pre-order, Big Stir Records is proud to roll out the second single from the record. “The Message,” the followup to last month's surprise indie hit “Everybody Knows,” is out January 30, with a month to go before the release of the band's fourth album LOST AT SEA, and up for pre-order and presave now:
https://orcd.co/legalmatters-message
December 2025 brought the welcome and long overdue return of THE LEGAL MATTERS – ANDY REED, CHRIS RICHARDS and KEITH KLINGENSMITH – with the indie hit single “Everybody Knows,” the first new music from the trio since their widely-hailed third album CHAPTER THREE in 2021. It was a sign of thing to come, as recent weeks have brought the official announcement of the forthcoming full-length album LOST AT SEA, due February 27 on Vinyl, CD and Streaming as the band's debut on Big Stir. The new single “The Message” shows off the diversity of approaches on display on the album: like “Everybody Knows,” it's drenched with layers of jaw-dropping harmonies and guitars and centered on an instantly-memorable melody. But while the first single was achingly beautiful and ultimately uplifting, there's a dark and mysterious undertone to “The Message,” an urgency that builds throughout the tune and reaches a fever pitch after the song quiets to a whisper and then builds back up to a thunderous coda with interweaving, call-and-response vocals repeating the hook “Let the message control you” as guitars saw away until the fade. It's a thrilling journey, but what's it all about?
The band's ANDY REED offers some insight. “This was an interesting song from day one, but was missing something. I had a strong melody but no lyrical direction. In today’s political landscape, I’ve grown frustrated with the hypocritical, religious types. It’s not aimed at religion specifically, just those who weaponize it.” Indeed, while the lyrics on the album are often of the classic pop bent, with beautifully crafted songs of relationships and Kinks-worthy character studies, there's enough of an undercurrent of cultural unease that the title LOST AT SEA is described by RICHARDS as “a fitting comment about our current political state.”
Reed goes on the detail the process behind the writing and recording of the tune: “We all chipped in on lyrics. Chris has a stronger voice than I do, so I wanted him to sing the chorus lead. It has a bit more punch that way. We're all super happy with the end result.” That sense of collaboration has defined THE LEGAL MATTERS from the beginning, and while it's always given the band a power that places them among the most thrilling and original practitioners of the power pop sound, now or throughout the genre's history, it's never been more apparent than on the new album. Get “The Message,” and pack your bags for a journey that will find you LOST AT SEA with THE LEGAL MATTERS on what's sure to be one of the most-lauded (and loved) albums of 2026.