Eight years is a long time to sit on a feeling. For New Orleans indie rock trio Pope, it was long enough to grow up, move out, move back, fall in and out of love, lose people, find new ones, and quietly become the band they always hoped they could be. Today, that long exhale finally arrives. BFM — yes, that stands for Big F*cking Music — is out now via Houston’s tastemaking Rite Field Records, and it is every bit as cathartic as the title suggests.

Built around the songwriting partnership of Alejandro Skalany and Matt Seferian, with longtime friend Atticus Lopez holding down the pulse, Pope has spent the better part of a decade carving out a small but devoted corner of the indie rock world. They’ve shared stages with Alex G, MJ Lenderman, Mitski, Wednesday, Momma, and They Are Gutting A Body of Water, and earned glowing nods from Pitchfork, Stereogum, and FLOOD along the way. BFM is their first full-length since 2017’s True Talent Champion, and it sounds like a band that finally has the patience to say exactly what it means.

“This is our first big release in a while, and a lot of life has happened since the last one,” Seferian says. “We’ve grown up, we’ve moved, we’ve moved back, gotten married, broken up, lost friends and family, gained new friends too, and some of these songs predate COVID. It feels cathartic to finally let go of some of these songs and be able to take a step back and look at all of these moments in time and move on from them.”

You can hear that long arc across the record’s thirteen tracks. The double single “John Thomas” and “Sick Minute” — the latter featuring Julia Steiner of Chicago’s Ratboys — pair laid-back grooves with the kind of stubborn optimism that only shows up after you’ve earned it. “Make You Feel” leans into hard-hitting drums and ringing guitars to sit with grief head-on, eventually dissolving into a sample pulled from a show hosted by a friend the band lost — a small, devastating tribute that doubles as a thesis statement for the whole album. And lead single “Newboi” captures that all-too-familiar loop of making the same mistakes and somehow still hoping you’ll change.

Sonically, BFM is classic Pope — crunchy, fuzzed-out, slack-as-hell vocals layered over melodies that linger — but with new corners to wander into. Tyler Scurlock of Sleigh Bells lends keys, Steiner’s harmonies brighten the edges, and the band leans into lo-fi detours and power-pop instincts in equal measure. It’s a record that opens in self-doubt and slowly walks itself back toward connection, resilience, and the people who got them here.

Stream BFM on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3eVa5w7ng7CSXq8KQjQYQz

Pope will celebrate the release with a hometown show at No Dice in New Orleans on May 15, joined by Aubrey Jane and Noa Jamir. More dates are on the way — keep an eye on @popetheband for what’s next.

BFM Tracklist:
1. Song Two
2. Newboi
3. Sick Minute
4. Point of View
5. Make You Feel
6. No One (Kiss for a Treat)
7. Nothing for Nothing
8. SOLU
9. Town
10. Good Enough
11. Back to the Center
12. John Thomas
13. Underdawg