The Brooklyn band’s third LP is one that is meant to invoke wandering, wondrous walks through city streets both foreign and familiar.

In the three short years since their acclaimed debut, 2020’s Introduc­tion, Presence, Nation of Language have sustained an increasing ascent from small, hyperlocal scenes to international stages and late-night television, while their musical evolution has embodied three distinct modes of moving through the world: lead singer and songwriter Ian Devaney imagines the band’s first album, Introduction, Presence, as taking place in a car, whereas second album A Way Forward occurred on and as a locomotive, influenced by the chugging sound of krautrock.

Now, as their first record to be fully created and released outside the confines of a pandemic-instilled lockdown, Strange Disciple is centered around groove-driven songs and bouncing basslines that feel ambulatory and wayfaring, informed by the excitement of exploring new places the band never thought they would see on tour.