Marika Hackman is here and ready to announce her fifth studio album, False Dogs, which is due out February 19 via Chrysalis Records. The album follows 2024’s Big Sigh, and Hackman produced, arranged, and wrote it all herself, playing almost every instrument on the record, including guitars, piano, drums, bass, mandolin, and synth. 

In conjunction with the announcement, Hackman has also shared the album’s opening track and first single, “33,” with a music video created by JOFI Films and conceptualized with Hackman herself. Watch it here: 

Hackman worked with a children’s choir on “33,” a song about the passage of time. The choir portrays a shadow character who urges her to keep going despite being caught between nostalgia and fear of the future.

The title False Dogs is a deliberate misspelling of “false gods,” a reference to the beliefs and imagined structures people accept unquestioningly as children and set aside as they get older. The album is about reaching milestones in your mid-thirties, and Hackman said that wrestling with what’s expected of people at certain ages “allowed me to really reflect on all the things that make life wonderful.”

False Dogs was built over hours of experimentation at Hackman’s East London studio, followed by a 10-day stay at Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate, a converted chapel in Kent. Hackman worked with previous collaborators Charlie Andrew and Polly Mackey, who also records as Art School Girlfriend and is Hackman's wife. Field recordings of the Kent coast, including crashing waves, church bells, and fireworks appear throughout the album. 

False Dogs is out February 19. Pre-order it here. Full tracklist:

1. 33
2. Close To Me
3. I'm Good
4. Handsome
5. The Blows
6. Be Surprised
7. Everything You Wanted
8. Ha_Happy
9. Half Painted Dog
10. Hello Sunshine
11. Lying Down
12. Crimson