The Will to Live

The Will to Live was produced by Titus Andronicus singer-songwriter Patrick Stickles and Canadian icon Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen, The Whole Nine Yards) at the latter’s Hotel 2 Tango recording studio in Montreal.

Drawing on maximalist rock epics from Who’s Next to Hysteria, Bilerman and Stickles have crafted the richest, densest, and hardest-hitting sound for Titus Andronicus yet. The record matches the sprawl and scope of the band’s most celebrated work, while honing their ambitious attack to greater effect than ever before.

Stickles credits a newfound domestic bliss and steadfast mental health regimen for his recent personal stability, as well as the endurance of the longest-running consistent lineup of Titus Andronicus. However, The Will to Live was created in large part as an attempt to process the untimely 2021 death of Matt “Money” Miller, the founding keyboardist of the band and Stickles’ closest cousin.

When Titus Andronicus made their long-awaited return to the stage in 2021, it was to celebrate the anniversary of their landmark breakthrough The Monitor. This experience left the band determined to deliver an album that would reach for those same lofty heights, relying this time less on the reckless fire of youth and more on the experience and perspective gained through a thousand shows.

From its adrenalizing opening instrumental “My Mother Is Going to Kill Me” to its wistful closing benediction “69 Stones,” The Will to Live conjures a vast landscape and sends the listener on a rocket ride from peak to vertiginous peak.

The album features contributions from members of the Hold Steady, Arcade Fire, and the E Street Band, as well as duets with various artists. The album comes packaged with gorgeous triple-gatefold artwork by illustrator Nicole Rifkin, a Hieronymus Bosch–inspired triptych which mirrors the three-part structure of the narrator’s perilous voyage across the corresponding three sides of vinyl.

With Stickles and Bilerman determined and defiant at the helm, they have found The Will to Live—now, the question is… will you?