Warning: This Record Might Actually Make You Feel Things Again

Song of the Day: “Be With You” by Muse

Jun 29, 2026

If you’ve been following the Muse saga for the last two decades, you know the drill: expect heavy helpings of space-age melodrama, falsetto-laden angst, and enough synth-rock bombast to power a small planet. With their tenth studio effort, The Wow! Signal, the band seems to have finally stopped trying to out-weird their own back catalog and instead decided to embrace the absurdity of being a stadium-filling rock trio in 2026. It’s an album that manages to be both a sonic “greatest hits” of their own tried and true songwriting techniques, and a surprisingly fresh pivot, thanks in large part to the studio influence of Dan Lancaster, who apparently gave Matt Bellamy the “permission” to stop producing every single squeak himself.

Where recent outings often felt like the band was auditioning for a soundtrack to a dystopian blockbuster, The Wow! Signal lands with a bit more human weight. It captures the frantic energy of Origin of Symmetry and the prog-pop confidence of Black Holes and Revelations, but filters it through the lens of a band that is, quite frankly, just a bit more mature. The production is thick, but sharp, the riffs are thankfully back in the driver’s seat, and for once, the inclusion of pop-centric collaborations doesn’t feel like a cynical attempt to chase the algorithm.

The undisputed highlight—and the track that actually justifies the band’s penchant for theatricality—is “Be With You.” While the rest of the album is busy trying to out-run an asteroid, “Be With You” slows the pace down to something resembling a sincere, heart-on-sleeve moment. It’s an electro-gospel ballad anchored by a church organ that avoids the usual pitfall of being overly saccharine. It serves as the emotional anchor for a record that might otherwise float off into the vacuum of space. But, I’m gonna let my buddybandmate, and HUGE Muse fan, Kevin deliver the last word on this song:

So much amazing music here! 4 times through and every song has something magical about it but I’m going to stick with “Be With You” as the track that I’m going to have in constant rotation. It has everything Muse is known for and would be the track I would use to introduce a new listener to them. Starting with the church organ and the stunning vocal melody that builds and leads into the blistering guitar. And then that drop, damn! What an epic sound. Killer hooks and strong lyrics make this a memorable 4 minute journey.