Published: August 9, 2026 · 3:23 AM EDT
The seven-song album was recorded in analog at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu and marks the second full-length release from Neil Young’s current band
Neil Young And The Chrome Hearts have announced Second Song, a new studio album scheduled for release on September 18, 2026 through Reprise Records.
The album marks the second full-length studio release from Neil Young with The Chrome Hearts, following the band’s earlier chapter with Talkin To The Trees. The project continues Young’s late-career creative path with a mostly acoustic song cycle recorded in analog at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California.
Second Song was produced by Lou Adler and The Volume Dealers, the production name used by Neil Young and Niko Bolas.
Second Song features seven songs written by Neil Young.
Five of the songs are previously unreleased, while two are unreleased versions: “Casting Me Away From You” and “I’ll Love You Forever.”
The album is described as a mostly acoustic work, carrying a wistful and deeply personal tone connected to earlier Neil Young albums such as Comes A Time and Prairie Wind.
The title also works as a reflection on Young’s career itself: a life of songs that continue to arrive, change shape and open new doors rather than follow a predictable path.
On Second Song, Neil Young continues working with The Chrome Hearts, a band built around new musical chemistry and the idea of discovery.
The lineup includes Anthony LoGerfo on drums, Corey McCormick on bass, Micah Nelson on guitar and longtime musician Spooner Oldham on keyboards.
The source material presents the group as part of Young’s ongoing search for new sounds, new players and new ways to keep his music alive in motion.
Second Song was recorded in analog at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California.
The album was produced by Lou Adler and The Volume Dealers, bringing together Adler’s long studio history with Young’s own production partnership with Niko Bolas.
The analog recording setting fits the album’s acoustic and personal direction, keeping the focus on songs, performance, tone and atmosphere.
The title track, “Second Song,” places the album’s emotional direction in clear view.
The lyrics quoted in the source material - “Through smoking leaves of time the words just tumbled forward in this second song of mine…” - point toward memory, time, reflection and the way songs can become a bridge between past and future.
Across the album, Neil Young appears to be looking at different versions of time: what has passed, what remains unresolved and what still carries hope.
The release frames the album as music for a difficult year, one that does not look away from uncertainty but tries to move forward through feeling, memory and connection.
TRACKLIST
1. The Foggy Edge Of Time
2. Day After Day
3. Earth Girl
4. Second Song
5. Casting Me Away From You
6. Soon I Might Be Going
7. I’ll Love You Forever
FORMATS
Second Song will be released on:
Vinyl
CD
Digital formats
Neil Young’s catalog has always moved through change.
From folk and country-rock to electric noise, protest songs, acoustic reflection and full-band reinvention, Young has built a career around refusing to remain fixed in one place.
Second Song fits that long pattern. It does not present The Chrome Hearts as nostalgia, but as another working band in Young’s larger musical journey.
The album’s mostly acoustic tone connects it to the gentler, reflective side of his catalog, while the presence of new collaborators keeps it tied to the present.
The release material describes Neil Young as an artist still moving through discovery.
That idea matters because Second Song is not being positioned as a closing statement. Instead, it is another chapter in a career where songs continue to arrive organically and take Young into new rooms with new musicians.
The phrase Second Song becomes more than an album title. It suggests the next song after the first, the next chance after the last one and the continuing act of writing from wherever life has moved.
On Second Song, Neil Young And The Chrome Hearts continue a late-career path built around analog recording, acoustic reflection and the restless search for new musical company. The album brings together seven Neil Young songs, a band featuring Anthony LoGerfo, Corey McCormick, Micah Nelson and Spooner Oldham, and a production setting rooted in Shangri-La Studios. Rather than presenting itself as a final look backward, Second Song feels like another open door in Young’s long and unpredictable songbook
Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist
PHOTO CREDIT: Neil Young
Watch Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts ’s Official video for “Second Song” below:
