Chicago Emo Standouts Retirement Party Returns With New Single “Sixth Sense”

After a short hiatus, Retirement Party, the Chicago indie-emo project of songwriter Avery Springer is clocking back in. Today they share comeback single “Sixth Sense,” the first look at forthcoming EP Nothing To Hear Without A Sound, out August 28. 

“Sixth Sense” is ironically about taking a step back from performing. “I first wrote this song in 2018 and funny enough, it is about someday moving on from pursuing music,” Springer explains. “Maybe life will move slower, but I’ll be happy for everyone,” sings Springer amidst twinkly emo guitar riffs and driving drums, capturing the bittersweet emotions associated with taking a pause from your passion.

Nothing To Hear Without A Sound marks the project’s first release without the original lineup that fueled cult-favorite LPs Somewhat Literate and Runaway Dog. Recorded with engineer/producer Simon Small (The Front Bottoms) at Chicago’s Type One Studios, the four-tracker shows Springer stepping confidently into full-band architect mode, handling every instrument except drums by Sam Brown. “This EP is the start of a new chapter of this band,” Springer says. “I like to think of it as my ‘adult’ chapter, since I was 18 when I started Retirement Party.”

Retirement Party began in a freshman-year bedroom when Avery Springer, then 18 and new to Chicago, decided to bottle every anxious thought inside a fuzz-pedal tornado. The raw EP Strictly Speaking (2017) caught DIY ears, while 2018’s debut LP Somewhat Literate and 2020 follow-up Runaway Dog earned praise for their guitar-forward hooks and candid lyricism. After relentless touring with Mom Jeans, The Get Up Kids, and Pet Symmetry, the band pressed pause in 2022 as members peeled off, pandemic fatigue lingered, and Springer started law school.

Now Springer is clocking back in, solo but sharper, for the project’s “adult chapter.” Nothing To Hear Without A Sound, out August 28, is both a comeback and a personal reboot: four songs drafted at different moments of the band’s life, finished entirely under Springer’s current vision. Pushing beyond her old comfort zone of vocals and rhythm guitar, she wrote and tracked every instrument except drums. The result fuses the jagged emo exuberance of early Retirement Party with tighter arrangements, lyrical self-reckonings, and a widened melodic streak that hints at where the project can go next.