After a long absence, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have announced their return to retail shelves--and it's coming sooner than most had expected. Today (Jan. 15), the Seattle-based duo unveiled plans for This Unruly Mess I've Made, which is due in stores Feb. 26.

The albums serves as the follow-up to 2012's The Heist, which won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and established the pair as international stars. Having previously made a name for themselves on the festival circuit and with an acclaimed EP, The Heist featured massive singles--"Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us" topped the Billboard charts, and the marriage equality song "Same Love" hit #1 on the rap charts and #11 overall. It also spawned an arena tour that brought them to their biggest stage yet.

In a video message from today (posted on Ryan Lewis' YouTube account), Macklemore talks about how that notoriety caused a creative block. So he, Lewis and several others absconded to a cabin in "the middle of nowhere" and created the new set. At press time, there was no news on whether either of two promotional singles (the Ed Sheeran-featuring "Growing Up" or the Melle Mel-, Kool Moe Dee- and Grandmaster Caz-assisted Grandmaster Caz) would make the final cut.

When he performed at the American Music Awards this November, Macklemore debuted a new song about drug addiction, called "Kevin."

See New Music Releases for January 2016

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