Muse Jets Us Into Space For ‘The Wow! Signal’

Muse’s music is often said to be out of this world. With The WOW! Signal, the British alternative-rock trio once more turns its attention to the stars.

The band’s 10^th and latest studio album is due out June 26 via Warner Records, and achieves lift-off with the single “Be With You,” a track that manages to straddle two galaxies. One, with a pipe organ that will remind listeners of Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar soundtrack. The other, a pumping nightclub.

To launch into the spirit of the new project, Music sent a special tablet 20 miles into the atmosphere, in partnership with Sent Into Space. While floating above Earth, the device premiered the music video for “Be With You,” starring Ella Balinska (Resident Evil, The Occupant) and directed by Nico Paolillo (Deafheaven, BAD OMENS). 

A second package is said to carry stickers for a limited-edition vinyl release, which is certain to be coveted by fans.

On “Be With You,” frontman Matt Bellamy sings: “It seems my light’s been swallowed up, I’ve used up every ounce of luck / I need to leap into the fire, find a higher power, and reach for something new.” 

It’s the first taste of an album that’s a “mix of cosmic mystery, existential hope, and the exhilarating possibility of contact with something far greater than ourselves,” according to a statement from Warner Music, announcing the forthcoming collection.

Since forming in Devon, England in the mid-1990s, Muse has sold more than 30 million albums globally, won multiple Brit Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, NME Awards and collected Grammy Awards for best rock album, first with The Resistance (2009) and later with Drones (2015).

The rockers have landed three titles on the Billboard Hot 100, and 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, including a No. 1 with Drones. They’re a chart force in the United Kingdom, with seven No. 1 albums, most recently with 2022’s Will of the People, their previous album. In Australia, Will of the People opened at No. 1 for the group’s fourth No. 1 on the ARIA Chart.

Muse’s next LP takes its name from one of the great mysteries of modern science, a powerful 72-second radio burst detected in 1977, originating from the constellation Sagittarius with a bandwidth and intensity that suggested a possible extraterrestrial source. Or maybe not. The source was never located, and the signal never received again.

The researcher who discovered the anomaly circled the now-iconic sequence “6EQUJ5” and wrote “WOW!” on the printed data, a moment that resonates in popular culture and scientific circles, and gives the Netflix sci-fi series 3 Body Problem its backbone.

Watch “Be With You” below and check The WOW! Signal tracklist.