Manchester Orchestra return with new EP and virtual reality album experience.

Indie rock giants Manchester Orchestra have announced their latest EP entitled The Valley of Vision. It is their eighth extended play and the follow up to 2021’s The Million Masks of God album.

Valley of Vision is accompanied by a virtual reality film of the same name. Premiere screening events have taken place in Los Angeles and New York City, with a screening at SXSW upcoming. The virtual reality film will also be screened on YouTube a day prior to its release on the 9th of March. Valley of Vision’s lead single, Capital Karma, is available now — although it does not include a snippet from the film. 

Their newest endeavor will see the rockers trading their guitars for pianos and synths, with a more unconventional style. They aren’t fully abandoning their sonics; however, but focusing on others to deliver a body of work that is unlike any other they have produced. Lead vocalist Andy Hull explains that the songs “...were really like science experiments that started from the bottom and were added to gradually over time. We’re intrigued by doing things the wrong way, or attempting things we haven’t done before and getting inspired by them.” Constructed without the band being together in the studio, the EP was inspired in part by a book of Puritan prayers from 1975, which is the project’s namesake.

Two performances of the project will take place in London at Union Chapel: one on March 15th and another two months later on May 13th. Manchester Orchestra will perform songs from the EP and more at Shaky Knees Festival, which is held in the band’s hometown of Atlanta, GA. The band is set to announce more tour dates later on in the year. Until then, the experience of The Valley of Vision will take fans and newcomers along for quite the ride.

The Valley of Vision will be released digitally on March 10th with a physical release on April 7th via Loma Vista Recordings. Lead single Capital Karma is out now.

See Manchester Orchestra live: