Billy Corgan Releases New Song “Aeronaut,” Is ‘William Patrick Corgan’ Now

Billy Corgan is back! Except he’s not called Billy Corgan anymore: you are now to address him by his proper title, William Patrick Corgan. Finally, at 50 years old, he’s all grown up, and you’re gonna know about it!

Today, he returns with his first solo material since his 2005 album TheFutureEmbrace. It’s a track called “Aeronaut,” which is dominated by dramatic strings, piano, and, of course, his unmistakable vocals—which still sound pretty great. It’s the lead single from his upcoming second solo album Ogilala, which releases on October 13, and was produced by Rick Rubin.

Of the project, and its recording process, Corgan said in a statement:

For as long as I can remember the delineation point between songs I wrote for myself and songs I’d pen for whatever band was something I couldn’t explain. And it remains so, for they all feel quite personal to me, no matter their time or era. The lone difference on songs for ‘Ogilala’ is that they seemed to want little in the way of adornment […] Having written the songs for voice and guitar, I put myself in Rick’s hands to take the music wherever he’d like. Normally I would have done more, and tinkered more on production, but rather Rick put the onus on me to deliver at a molecular level via live takes. The rest was simply a reaction.

Listen to the new track above, and feel it at a molecular level, baby.

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