Junior VP release new single ‘American Optimism’ taken from forthcoming debut album ‘Do You Feel The Same?’

Artist News

Silhouetted figure meditating by a body of water with a red and textured background, featuring the text 'AMERICAN OPTIMISM' at the top.

Junior VP – American Optimism
Independent
23rd October 2026

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Glasgow indie-rock trio Junior VP return with ‘American Optimism’, released October 23rd, the latest track to be taken from their forthcoming debut album ‘Do You Feel The Same?’, due in 2027.

Following the release of July’s ‘Red Cardigan’, which picked up support from RTE, Total Rock and KUTX, American Optimism sees Junior VP lean further into the melodic, emotionally charged indie that has quickly become their calling card.

Since forming in 2025, Junior VP have quickly built momentum. The debut studio EP ‘Head Full of Sadness’ arrived in May 2026, earning national airplay from BBC Introducing and saw the band shortlisted for Kerrang Radio’s The Deal competition. The band’s name is taken from the distinctly American position of ‘Junior Vice President’, paying tribute to the golden era of American college rock, emo and indie that inspires their sound. Through pop hooks and expansive guitar sounds, Junior VP blends the emotional immediacy of the early 2000s with a modern melodic edge.

“We can’t escape the music that influenced us growing up,” says vocalist Ross. “There’s a real 2000s nostalgia in our music that seems to connect with people who lived through that era and those discovering it for the first time.”

The band’s story stretches back far further than its formation. Ross Macintosh and drummer Steven Jack had played in bands together throughout their school years and into university, before life eventually took them in different directions. Fifteen years later, songs Ross had written during the pandemic became the catalyst for their reunion. With bassist Andy Mcleod completing the lineup, the three began work on the album that would become ‘Do You Feel The Same?’

Recorded at Glasgow’s now-closed Venice of the North Studios with Jamie Martin and mastered by Robin Sutherland (The Snuts, Swim School), ‘American Optimism’ draws sonic influence from both Billy Talent’s Surrender and Jimmy Eat World’s Work, while retaining the band’s own melodic sensibility and authenticity.

American Optimism is built around melodic guitars and driving drums that create a gorgeous, expansive canvas for Macintosh’s emotionally weathered vocals and wistful lyrics to soar atop, giving the song an unusual tension between uplift and despair.

The song arrived almost by accident. Speaking on the track’s creation, vocalist and lyricist Ross Macintosh says, “American Optimism is a song that came together in ten minutes after spending two hours working on and getting frustrated by another idea that didn’t go anywhere. It’s possibly our favourite thing that we’ve done together as a band. I’m really proud of what each person brought to this track. Writing songs can be a lonely process and you can really doubt what you’ve made. But then you get in the practice room and eventually the studio and everyone does amazing things that I’d never have thought of. In the end you can’t imagine a song sounding any other way.”

Lyrically, American Optimism explores the temptation to give up when setbacks keep piling up, it’s a self-lacerating surrender disguised in optimism.

On the subject matter, Macintosh adds, “It’s broadly about deciding to just give up after lots of setbacks. It’s not exactly healthy to stick your head in the sand when things get tough but maybe it can be fun for a while. We hope that people can take their own meaning from it though.”