Alabama Shakes Return With Their First Album in 11 Years

NASHVILLE — Alabama Shakes are preparing to release I Must Be Dreaming on August 28, ending an 11-year gap between studio albums and completing one of the most closely watched reunions in American rock. The record follows 2015’s Grammy-winning Sound & Color and arrives after the band gradually returned to touring and recording together.

Apple Music lists the project as an 11-track release through Limestone Listening Club under exclusive license to Island Records. The band’s official store is taking orders for vinyl, CD and cassette editions, while the current single I Feel Hope Coming offers the clearest preview of a record described as psychedelic soul with the group’s familiar blues-rock force.

The comeback did not begin with a sudden announcement. Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg and bassist Zac Cockrell started talking again about making music together before returning with new songs and live dates. Another Life opened that chapter, and American Dream followed earlier this year, allowing the band to rebuild momentum without pretending the long pause had never happened.

I Must Be Dreaming was recorded in Nashville at Sound Emporium Studios and Blackbird Studio with producer Shawn Everett. Everett previously worked on Sound & Color, whose adventurous production helped move Alabama Shakes beyond the roots-rock label attached to their debut. Reuniting with him signals that the band is interested in evolution, not a simple recreation of its early sound.

The album title holds two ideas at once. Howard has explained that it can describe disbelief at a chaotic world and wonder at its beauty. That tension fits a band whose music has always balanced physical power with emotional vulnerability. The new songs arrive in a period of political fatigue, economic anxiety and intense cultural division, but the group is emphasizing hope rather than easy escape.

I Feel Hope Coming is central to that message. Howard has connected the song to younger people’s ability to see through political dishonesty and maintain the will to act. Fogg has described its creation as a joyful collaboration. Those comments suggest the reunion worked because the musicians rediscovered a shared process, not because nostalgia alone created a commercial opportunity.

The history behind the release is substantial. Alabama Shakes broke through with Boys & Girls in 2012 and the single Hold On, then expanded its palette dramatically on Sound & Color. The second album won multiple Grammys and established Howard as one of the defining vocalists and guitarists of her generation. Afterward, she pursued acclaimed solo work while the band stepped away.

The new configuration is also different. The returning core is now presented as a trio, and the album follows changes in the group’s lineup during the years apart. That reality makes I Must Be Dreaming less like a frozen reunion and more like a continuation built around the members who chose to restart the collaboration.

Touring has allowed the band to test that chemistry in public. Summer dates have included festival and amphitheater appearances, with additional North American shows surrounding the album release. Live performance matters for Alabama Shakes because the group’s reputation was built on arrangements that could stretch, tighten and erupt differently from night to night.

The release also lands at a useful moment for guitar-based music. Streaming has made genre borders more porous, and younger listeners encounter soul, blues, indie rock and classic R&B in the same feed. Alabama Shakes already operated across those boundaries, giving the band a chance to reach people who were children when Sound & Color first appeared.

No comeback album can reproduce the surprise of a debut or erase 11 years of individual growth. That is precisely why I Must Be Dreaming is compelling. The band is returning with history behind it, new experiences inside it and a title that admits uncertainty. If the songs sustain the promise of the early singles, the record will feel less like a revival than a genuine second act.