Kindred (song)

"Kindred" is a song by American rock band A Perfect Circle. The song was the band's first new release of music in six years, following the release of Eat the Elephant (2018).

Background
Following the completion of the band's fourth studio album Eat the Elephant and subsequent touring cycle in 2018, the band went inactive while members moved onto their respective musical projects. Frontman Maynard James Keenan resumed work with Puscifer while guitarist Billy Howerdel put out a solo album, What Normal Was (2022). In 2023, a brief tour in celebration of Keenan's 60th birthday was announced. The tour, scheduled to run across April and May 2024, would feature performances from three bands; A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Primus. In the month leading up to the tour's start, it was announced that an EP would be released just before the tour. The song will feature three new songs—one from each band of the tour—with the A Perfect Circle song being titled "Kindred". The song will release digitally on March 29, 2024, and in limited editions during the tour physically. The physical edition will also include an instrumental version of the song.

The song features Keenan on vocals, Howerdel on guitars, and Josh Freese on drums. The song is the first to feature Freese in 13 years following his departure from the band during its infrequent activity across the early and mid 2010s. The song will make its live debut during the tour with Freese, who is scheduled to perform on the first half of the tour dates before returning to his work with the Foo Fighters. The song was both co-written and co-produced by Keenan and Howerdel. Howerdel noted that the song came together much faster than much of the band's work. While Howerdel and Keenan often work and rework songs for months at a time, the song was quickly recorded, and was performed live for the first time by the band on March 19, 2024—only 2 days prior to the song's announcement. He noted that its quick development had made it a challenge to prepare for its live performance, as their song's long development times usually gives more time to plan for its live iteration.

Themes and composition
Revolver described the song's sound as a "glacial, majestic bit of progressive gloomscaping" featuring "piano-and-symphony-string ambiance and percussively-anchored riffage". Lyrically, the song describes feeling of lamenting the loss of connection to others.

Personnel

 * Maynard James Keenan – vocals, production
 * Billy Howerdel – guitars, bass, keyboards, production
 * Josh Freese – drums