Denver, CO punk upstarts Public Opinion have announced their upcoming sophomore album, The Curse of Public Opinion, arriving August 7th via SideOneDummy.

Clocking in at a mean. 23 minutes, The Curse of Public Opinion is loaded with fuck-you anthems that plumb the depths of existential disappointment through a sneering cocktail of 2000s garage rock swagger, classic punk hooks, and hardcore ferocity. Plenty of albums provide the soundtrack for picking yourself back up, but Public Opinion are there for when you're getting kicked while you're down.

To celebrate the announcement, Public Opinion have shared the record's raucous opener, "Balloon Man Running." It's a vitriolic cut of unfiltered frustration set to the kind of primal rock & roll riffs than few bands have the guts to try, let alone pull off.

You can stream the official video for the new single below.

Public Opinion emerged from the Denver, Colorado, hardcore scene in 2020 and have evolved from spunky proto-punks into the anthemic rock & roll powerhouse heard on their sophomore album. Recorded with Brett Romnes (Anxious, I Am The Avalanche, Hot Mulligan), The Curse of Public Opinion sounds absolutely massive, pushing the band's blend of melody and madness further than ever before. Lyrically, vocalist Kevin Hart (not that one) rejects social media-derived faux therapy sentiments and platitude-drenched motivational speeches; this is properly pissed-at-the-world music for when it’s just time to vent. “A lot of bands make music about feeling bad but they’re so dialed-in. I think our message is a little more messy, but a lot more human,” he explains. “At the end of the day I’m kind of a quiet, angry guy. I don’t explode, I implode. So when it comes to the songs I don’t try to stop all that from coming through."

Public Opinion will be touring heavily this year. This week the band kick off a lengthy run of North American spring tour dates supporting Drug Church and White Reaper, and they've also just announced run of summer shows with Squint in June.