New Idea Society has taken on differing shapes and forms over the years, but at its heart is the duo of Mike Law (Wild Arrows, Eulcid) and Stephen Brodsky (Cave In, Mutoid Man), a pair enraptured and united by the alchemical power of songwriting. With a connection that can be traced back to their high school years, between them exists an intuitive understanding that informs exactly what New Idea Society is at any given point.
On May 15, 2026, New Idea Society will release their fourth full length studio album, Fire On The Hill [pre-order] and they’ve shared their latest single “Nightbirds,” a bittersweet anthem that lifts as it lingers.
Brodsky comments: “‘Nightbirds’ is easily one of my favorite songs that Mike has ever written. I think it beautifully captures what it’s like to share a journey with someone. Togetherness, adventure, triumph and loss – it’s all here. Mike’s vision went above and beyond with a video that couldn’t be more complimentary to the sprawling sounds in this sonic masterpiece. I’m proud to have played any part in it.”
Law says “Nightbirds” was: “…a response to how amazed I was with Steve rewriting ‘Dancing Horse.’ We had been passing songs back and forth trying to find our footing of the type of album we wanted to make. The first ideas I sent were more raw and visceral, almost animalistic. But when he sent ‘Dancing Horse’ I remember just sitting on my couch laughing and feeling like if enough people heard it that it could be a song people listened to for a long, long, time. I had been hearing the main ‘Nightbirds’ melody for awhile but it came together really quickly that night because I thought I’d better send him something back to keep up the pace. Then as happened with most songs on the album Steve added some key chords and we wrote the bridge together in the studio. It’s a cool phenomenon where someone writes something really good and it raises the bar.” He continues, “For the video we got to work with Stevie T who has done a few videos with my other band Wild Arrows. The hard part with Stevie T is that you have to get him on board with your idea regardless of if he likes the song. He is too hard working to be motivated by anything but his art so he has to love the idea. Luckily he liked our basic concept and made it way better. I love the contrast he got with the aerial footage he took and the weird birds he filmed. I think they’re friends of his from Queens.”
Although the pair have come a long way since their earliest explorations in audio in the late 90s, the roots of New Idea Society’s alliance were forged in those makeshift basement studios. For Fire On The Hill, Law and Brodsky took a more collaborative approach to songwriting than on previous releases. With Brodsky describing their process as “microscopic” and Law marveling at the particulars of the minutiae they pored over, the attention to detail and their meticulous approach to making adjustments in service of the work shines through in the cohesiveness of this collection of songs. With demos passed back and forth over months— Brodsky sending them in the early morning, and Law taking the evening shift— the songs evolved naturally; refining a chord progression, adapting a lyrical perspective, or rewriting the words entirely.
Having spent a busy year in 2023 working within multiple full band settings, Brodsky found himself leaning into the simplicity of composing music again with just one other musician. He found himself inspired by the spacious, minimalistic approach of albums like Stereolab’s Emperor Tomato Ketchup, and artists such as PJ Harvey (in a somewhat poetic twist, the artwork for Fire On The Hill was painted by James F Johnston, a member of PJ Harvey’s band). With these artists in mind, Brodsky turned to Law and the pair began to piece together fragments that harkened back to their formative, lo-fi experiments in sound.
By allowing themselves to be fully immersed in the storytelling of the album, they became more attached to the songs themselves – and more discerning about what would make the cut. Thematically Fire On The Hill is about love, in its many forms. With each track detailing some element of navigating emotional relationships— the beauty, the pain, the loss and the hope – the duo have captured the immediacy and urgency of such feelings, tempered by a sliver of yearning that stops short of tipping into nostalgia.
A sense of place is woven throughout the album, one that transcends mere geography. However, personal circumstances did facilitate Law and Brodsky quite literally returning to the Massachusetts stomping grounds of their youth during the writing process, and their creativity flourished when they embraced the same experimentalism that originally drew them to each other. Even in the years when they were not working on projects together, their creative paths and friendship remained constant. Now with years of experience to their names, alongside a developed vocabulary and extended sonic palette to draw from, they have created something specifically and idiosyncratically New Idea Society. Fire On The Hill is them in full flight, at the height of their collective powers.
New Idea Society, live:
Jul 09 Brooklyn, NY — Union Pool
Jul 10 Providence, RI — Myrtle
Jul 11 Malden, MA — Faces
