Ahead of their sixth album’s 10 July release, Murray Macleod talks Amped through the band reunion in the room, eerie parallels to their 2009 debut, and why home became the record’s emotional core.

Words by Cydnee Brook | July 03, 2026

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After more than two decades together, The Xcerts are about to release the album frontman Murray Macleod calls their most definitive yet. i think i want to go home now. arrives 10 July via FLG Records, and speaking to Amped ahead of release, Macleod traced its origins back to a single session.

“That was kind of the lightbulb moment,” he says of album opener “do it to myself,” the first song written with all three members together in a room rather than gathered around a laptop. “We were all in the room smiling, feeding off of one another’s chemistry… making sure that we were all together being loud and making an emotional racket.”

The album’s title began as a joke about that childhood sleepover feeling. That sudden, uncomfortable urge to go home. As the band lived through very difficult years prior to and during making this album, including family cancer diagnoses and a relationship breakdown, the phrase took on new weight.

“That joke kind of turned into serious conversations about what the record was about,” Macleod explains, “and how we all felt like we had that childlike vulnerability again.”

Writing together in person also surfaced uncanny echoes of the band’s 2009 debut, In The Cold Wind We Smile, itself born out of personal loss. “Those parallels felt quite eerie, really,” Macleod admits. “We established early on that we were going to write about these experiences happening in real time… that comes from a very pure place. We weren’t chasing a hit.”

One of the record’s most distinctive touches is its use of voice recordings bookending the album, a deliberate choice, Macleod says, to invoke “a great sense of longing,” likened to looking at a disposable camera photo or an old VHS tape. “It puts you side by side with these characters… and makes for a more intimate listen.”

Keep that in mind: we at Amped have an idea that might get us something very special from the band when this album is released. 

Six albums in, and with no split ever discussed, Macleod is unequivocal: “Incredibly proud that this is our sixth record, and for sure the best one yet.”

Being lucky enough to listen to this album prior to an interview with Macleod, I’m happy to confirm that this is a great album and I cannot wait for this to be in the hands of the fans. 

i think i want to go home now. is out on 10 July via FLG Records. And you can catch The Xcerts on tour with Twin Atlantic this year.