Cut Worms, the project of Max Clarke, has announced his fourth full-length record, Transmitter, due for release on 13th March 2026 via Jagjaguwar. Produced by Jeff Tweedy at Wilco’s Loft studio. Ahead of the album release, the single Windows on the World is out now and features Tweedy on electric guitars and bass and Glenn Kotche on percussion. The song wrestles with American disillusionment, its melancholy potentially drifting somewhere between Elliott Smith and Miracle Legion, and can be heard below alongside a video shot on the streets of New York and directed by Caroline Gohlke.
Clarke says of the album, “The stories in these songs are equal parts innocence and experience—dealing with the ecstatic moments of being freshly enamored with the world as well as the isolation and seclusion that can come after. On view are the unseen inner sanctums of quiet daily life—the private worlds that people inhabit, where they don’t or can’t let anyone else in. It is not a uniquely American phenomenon, but it does seem prevalent here, rooted in the mythos of rugged individualism and the idea that each person must be strong enough to make it on their own or die.”
The first signs of the collaboration came when Cut Worms were on the road supporting Wilco in the summer of 2024. At the end of the tour, Tweedy invited the band to record at the storied Loft in Chicago, and plans were soon made to commence that fall. The opportunity was a homecoming of sorts for Clarke—the Windy City is where he attended art school, played in formative bands, and began recording his Cut Worms Soft Boiled Demos.
In the Loft’s clutter of guitars, amplifiers, and books, Clarke and Tweedy quickly found common musical ground and a shared instinct for songs that hold complexity. Unlike earlier records defined by Clarke’s own guitar style and arrangements, Transmitter took shape as a dialogue. While his voice and writing formed the framework, Tweedy’s guitar and bass lines completed the picture. “Jeff instinctively understood who the narrator was and what the story was about in each instance, without me ever needing to say it outright,” says Clarke. The band will be embarking on a U.S. tour this Spring and has just been announced as playing the Green Man festival with other European dates to follow soon.
The album is available to pre-order on Metallic Silver vinyl, Clear Red vinyl, Standard Black vinyl, CD, and digitally. You can pre-order it from here.
“Transmitter” Tracklisting:
1. Worlds Unknown
2. Evil Twin
3. Long Weekend
4. Barfly
5. Windows on the World
6. Walk in an Absent Mind
7. Don’t Look Down
8. Shut In
9. Out of Touch
10. Dream
