Neil Young will release Second Song with The Chrome Hearts on September 18, marking his first studio album following 2025’s Talkin To The Trees and bringing together newly recorded material with songs drawn from his early songwriting archive.
by Paul Cashmere
Neil Young has confirmed September 18 as the release date for Second Song, a new studio album recorded with The Chrome Hearts. The album is preceded by the title track, “Second Song”, which is now available with an official lyric video and is being offered for pre-order. The project continues Young’s recording relationship with The Chrome Hearts and follows the band’s 2025 studio album Talkin To The Trees.
Neil originally announced the album in April.
Recording ‘Second Song’, my next studio album for Reprise records, was a lifetime experience. First, the music was breathing. Every song of the seven released on this album is straight form the heart.
Second, we tried to do something we have never done: record digital and analog masters at the same time.
We did this so we could show the difference we know and believe in, my friends and I. Analog was the beginning, and it never sounded better. Hi res digital is a clear second best. We are finishing the two versions and will release them both. The Digital hi res master and the Analog Vinyl. You can hear the difference, instantly. They are both beautiful if the song is. One is as deep as life. One is the highest quality counterfeit copy. If you are interested in the sound you can disappear into and lose yourself… over repeated listenings, Analog.
I made records like that in the beginning. I miss the quality people today hardly ever get a chance at hearing. Music is infinitely deep. Museum quality sound is analogue.
Try comparing these if you get a chance. For true analog playback, there can be no digital components in the player or amplifier or speakers. I do hope you enjoy the music no matter how you listen. We made it for all of us.
LOVE
Neil
Second Song is notable for combining contemporary recordings with material Young wrote decades ago. The album includes newly recorded songs alongside compositions dating from the 1960s, extending Young’s practice of revisiting unfinished or previously unheard material from his extensive archive.
The Chrome Hearts lineup on the record is Spooner Oldham on Hammond B3, Farfisa and pump organs, piano, mellotron and vibes; Micah Nelson on electric guitar and vocals; Corey McCormick on bass and vocals; and Anthony LoGerfo on drums and wave drum. Young contributes vocals, upright piano, acoustic and electric guitar, vibes, mellotron, marxophone and harmonica.
The recording follows a period of unusually concentrated activity for Young. In April, he disclosed that Second Song had been completed at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studio in Malibu. The sessions produced five new songs before Young turned to earlier compositions in his archive. Three of the songs selected for the album date from 1963, predating Young’s work with Buffalo Springfield.
Young previously described the project as containing “three 60 year old songs and five brand new ones”, with the album completed over a recording cycle that began and concluded around full moons. The sessions also involved creating analogue and high-resolution digital masters simultaneously.
The album’s historical material includes “I’ll Love You Forever” and “Casting Me Away From You”, songs that Young wrote in the 1960s but which had not previously formed part of a contemporary studio album in this setting. Rather than presenting the archive solely as historical documentation, Second Song places those early compositions alongside Young’s current work and the musicians he has been recording and touring with.
For Young, the project follows Talkin To The Trees, released in 2025 with The Chrome Hearts. That album established the current lineup as an important part of his recording and touring activity, with the band subsequently appearing across Young’s Love Earth Tour. Young has continued to develop the relationship in both live and studio settings, including the release of the live album As Time Explodes in 2026.
The September release also comes as Young’s broader archival programme enters another significant phase. Neil Young Archives Volume IV is in production and is expected to be the second-last volume in the long-running Archives series. Young has said The Volume Dealers are assembling the collection, although no official release date has been announced.
Volume IV is expected to cover the period from 1987 through 2004, encompassing albums including Freedom, Ragged Glory, Harvest Moon, Sleeps With Angels, Mirror Ball, Broken Arrow, Silver & Gold, Are You Passionate? and Greendale. The collection is set to include original master recordings, previously unheard material, alternate mixes and upgraded audio presentations.
Among the material associated with the forthcoming archive set are an unreleased Bluenotes recording, “10 Men Working”, the extended “60-0”, an updated version of “Life In The City” and remixed Bluenote Café material. The collection is also expected to contain the first authorised release of the complete 1995 Dublin concert Young performed with members of Pearl Jam during the Mirror Ball period.
Second Song therefore occupies two positions in Young’s current catalogue. It is a contemporary studio record made with his present band, while also extending his longstanding interest in bringing previously unheard songs from his past into the present. The September 18 release will establish the complete shape of the album and its place alongside the expanding Neil Young Archives programme.
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