Starcatcher

Starcatcher, released through Lava/Republic/EMI on 21 July 2023, is Greta Van Fleet's third album, and Universal Music Japan issued its edition (UICU-1357) on the same day. The band made it with Dave Cobb, the producer behind records by Chris Stapleton and Brandi Carlile, at RCA Studios in Nashville, using the studio's large recording room to catch the energy of their concerts. Late in 2022 Sam Kiszka had said the new music would go back to the raw energy of the band's garage days. Across ten songs the record plays fantasy off against reality and light off against darkness. Danny Wagner explained that the aim was to build a universe, with characters and motifs that could resurface throughout the band's career; Sam said the record made him think of the cosmos and of questions about where people come from and where consciousness itself comes from; and Jake Kiszka said the writing came by instinct, with nothing forced. "Meeting the Master" was released with the album announcement on 7 April 2023, followed by "Sacred the Thread" in May, a song about Josh Kiszka's fondness for his stage jumpsuits, and by "Farewell for Now" and "The Falling Sky" in June. The album topped Billboard's Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart dated 5 August 2023 with 46,000 units, 41,000 of them from sales, and entered the Billboard 200 at No. 8, the band's third top ten there. Starcatcher was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 66th Grammy Awards. Its world tour opened at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on 24 July 2023 and reached Madison Square Garden in New York on 12 September and OVO Arena Wembley in London on 14 November. In August 2024 the band brought the album to Japan for Summer Sonic, playing Osaka on the 17th and Tokyo on the 18th, their first Japanese shows since January 2019. The Japanese edition has the same ten tracks; early buyers received an A4 clear file at Tower Records or a mega jacket from Amazon.co.jp.