Dispatch have announced a new multi-part release series, which see the band release collections of songs in phases and will culminate in the release of their eighth studio record in 2021. The first installment, Phase 1, arrived today, and it includes new tracks “May We All,” “All This Time” and “One By One.”

“Over the last year, bandmates Chadwick Stokes and Brad Corrigan have encountered and had to transcend unprecedented change both as a band and as a society,” read a press release. “They have personally dealt with the death of loved ones, the birth of children and parted ways with their beloved partner and bandmate, Pete Francis. All throughout this time, the world has seen so much change and upheaval, and these new songs were written and recorded as the band’s means to process this change. It’s this spirit of collective awakening and change in all its pain and beauty that defines this new project. These songs speak not only to the band’s personal evolution, but to the human nature itself.”

“Everyone in this country has been facing some kind of turmoil these last four years,” said Stokes (via press release). “As fathers of young kids who worry about what kind of world we’re leaving behind, as people who’ve lost family and friends to suicide and addiction, as bandmates navigating this transition from trio to duo, I think that feeling of everything being in flux was particularly acute for Brad and me. Writing’s always been the way we’ve made sense of the world, though, so that’s what we did.”

“We wanted to walk people through the feelings of sadness and anger and loss we’ve all been experiencing lately and take them to the other side,” added Brad Corrigan. “We wanted to deliver them to a place where they’re wiser and more compassionate, a place where they’re kinder and more unified, a place where they’re ready to truly protect and care for each other.”

Click here to listen to “Phase 1.”