Arab Strap Announce "Half-Told Tales" Album, Release Caustic New Single "You You You"

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Arab Strap Launch New Album Half-Told Tales With Acerbic Single “You You You”

“And if you’re streaming this song on Spotify, then we both fund weapons-grade AI” By Jazz Monroe May 20, 2026 Save this story Save this story

Arab Strap are back, and in typically caustic form. The Scottish duo of Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat will return with Half-Told Tales on September 4, via Rock Action . The song that accompanies the news, “You You You,” comes with a fun video directed by Luke Bovill. Watch it below.

Half-Told Tales marks the duo’s return to the discipline of naming albums after perfecting the form with 2024’s I’m Totally Fine With It 👍 Don’t Give a Fuck Anymore 👍 . The single, in the age-old Arab Strap tradition, includes a cascade of zesty couplets, from the Rabelaisian (“I’ve got watchlists I’ll never watch/And pruritus scroti in my crotch”) to the self-incriminating (“And if you’re streaming this song on Spotify, then we both fund weapons-grade AI”) and the righteously indignant (“Nobody pays for abhorrent behaviour/Fuck these demagogues cosplaying saviours”).

Moffat describes the track in press materials as “a sort of disco-metal incantation, with a message of future felicity and fellowship that—fingers crossed—might make you dance and giggle too.” He elaborates: “There are millions of us out there dealing with the same worries every day: from the rising costs of absolutely everything, our mental and physical health, the constant slaughter and tyranny in our newsfeeds, to playing an unwitting part in the military-industrial complex, and the endless warping of reality. It can often feel like a complete absence of human decency—it’s no wonder that despondency can feel like our default disposition.”

The duo has also lined up a European tour at the tail end of the year. Find the dates below.

Half-Told Tales : 01 I Get Noise 02 You You You 03 Be a Man 04 Fighting for You 05 Glamour Magick 06 Gape 07 Under Offer 08 Basic Physics 09 Sunsong 10 Dollar Park 11 Mr. Splitfoot 12 Ampersand 13 Fragments 14 Beats per Minute

Arab Strap: 10-12 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan’s 10-13 Manchester, England - Band on the Wall 10-14 London, England - Heaven 10-15 Leeds, England - Howard Assembly Rooms 10-16 Stockton, England - Georgian Theatre 10-17 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowland 11-22 Prague, Czechia - MeetFactory 11-23 Budapest, Hungary - a38 11-24 Zagreb, Croatia - Vintage Industrial Bar 11-25 Belgrade, Serbia - Zappa Baza 11-26 Bucharest, Romania - Control Club 11-27 Istanbul, Turkey - Zorlu 11-28 Thessaloniki, Greece - Eightball Club 11-29 Athens, Greece - Gazarte 12-13 Parma, Italy - Barezzi Festival

_Originally reported by [Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/news/arab-strap-launch-new-album-half-told-tales-with-acerbic-single-you-you-you/)._