Ekko Astral announce new LP & shows, share “lil xan goes to washington”

Ekko Astral have announced the follow up to 2024’s fantastic Pink Balloons. The Beltway is Burning, their second album, is due out on April 22 via Topshelf. It was written and recorded by Jael Holzman, Liam Hughes, and Miri Tyler (who is leaving the band), and you can see the cover art and tracklist below.

The album features Ekko Astral’s 2025 single “horseglue,” and the new single is “lil xan goes to washington.” “In times when Nicki Minaj is tight with the president, it feels right that Lil Xan becomes a lobbyist,” Hughes says. “This song was pulled out of thin air in the studio while most of the album was written and ready to record beforehand. We only had the lyrics finished for this one. But once we started messing around, the music wrote itself in minutes, and we all knew we had something special.”

Holzman adds, “We always intended for the songs on this album to tell a fictional story based on real events. Some of this material dates back a decade to when Liam and I first met in college. But by the time we hit the studio, we had a feeling it would be more like a historical document.”

Ekko Astral have tour dates through June, including headlining shows with Perennial, their Liberation Weekend II festival, and shows supporting Mclusky and Agriculture. They’ll be in NYC on Saturday (2/14) at Baby’s All Right with Agriculture and Peace Through Strength, and June 5 at Night Club 101 with Pop Music Fever Dream and Editrix. Tickets to that one go on sale Friday, February 13 at 10 AM ET, and you can see all dates below.

EKKO ASTRAL – THE BELTWAY IS BURNING TRACKLIST
body generation
lil xan goes to washington →
horseglue →
beltway (ft. pop music fever dream)
wmata
this is not a call to action but a lamentation on the situation at hand (or capital riot)
elegy for a system (ft. big girl)
lovesick american romance
dude with guitars
sandler ’36
blood mountain
comet ping pong

EKKO ASTRAL: 2026 TOUR DATES
February 14, 2026 – New York, NY @ Baby’s All Right *
March 27, 2026 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Fest
March 26, 2026 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile **
March 28, 2026 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater **
March 30, 2026 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel **
March 31, 2026 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater **
April 25, 2026 – Washington, D.C. @ Liberation Weekend / Black Cat
May 29, 2026 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s ***
May 30, 2026 – Burlington, VT @ The Monkey House ***
May 31, 2026 – Portland, ME @ SPACE ***
June 2, 2026 – Providence, RI @ Machines With Magnets
June 3, 2026 – Boston, MA @ The Rockwell
June 5, 2026 – New York, NY @ Night Club 101
June 6, 2026 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA

* w/ Agriculture)
** w/ Mclusky
*** headline w/ Perennial