Little Image has always thrived in the in-between. Between polished indie-pop hooks and something a little more restless. Between who they were and who they are becoming. With their new album Kill the Ghost, out Friday, the band leans fully into that tension, turning inward to confront the versions of themselves that have quietly shaped their journey.

Speaking with Variance ahead of the album’s arrival, lead singer Jackson Simmons describes the project less as a linear statement and more as a world. A collection of characters. A reflection of the internal dialogue that never quite shuts off. “There’s just a lot of different versions of yourself and different aspects of yourself that I think all of us kind of have,” he explains.

That idea became the backbone of Kill the Ghost. Rather than writing strictly autobiographical songs, the band created personas that embody different emotional states and thought patterns. There’s “Mr. Cynical,” “The Reaper,” and perhaps most importantly, “the ghost” itself. Not a literal figure, but something more familiar. “It’s kind of the thing that gets in your own way,” Simmons says. “It’s like the ghost of your past or the ghost of your future… when you can’t just be present.”

If that sounds heavy, it is. But it’s also where the band found clarity. Much of that perspective came after a period of intense personal work. Simmons shares that the band has been in therapy together since finishing the record, something that helped them unpack not only the music, but their relationships with each other. “We just learned a lot about ourselves and kind of did a lot of deep-diving and soul-searching, individually but also together,” he says.

That duality, individual versus collective, runs throughout the album. Even as Kill the Ghost explores internal conflict, it ultimately lands somewhere more hopeful. The closing track, “Always Ends,” shifts the focus outward, emphasizing connection over isolation. “It just talks about us together, like kind of building this thing together,” Simmons says.

At the center of it all is another recurring symbol: the rabbit. Featured on the album artwork, it represents something softer, more elusive. “I think at the end of the day, everybody’s just kind of searching for some sort of magic and innocence,” Simmons explains. That search, for something pure in the middle of chaos, gives the album its emotional anchor.

While the themes feel expansive, the album itself has surprisingly grounded roots. Much of Kill the Ghost was recorded in Norman, Oklahoma, a place that has quietly become a creative home base for the band. “Pretty much all of it… was recorded in Norman,” Simmons says, noting that their previous record was made there as well. For a band that now tours nationally, that connection to Oklahoma still carries weight. “It’s kind of our home away from home,” he adds.

That sense of place will come full circle when Little Image returns to the road. After a year spent largely on support tours, the band is stepping back into the spotlight with their own headlining run, the Kill the Ghost tour, kicking off in May. Before that, they’ll join Bad Suns for a series of dates in April, continuing a relationship that goes back years. “They took us out… before we even had a full team,” Simmons recalls.

But this time around feels different. Headlining means more room to build the kind of immersive live experience the band has always envisioned. “It’ll be nice to kind of scale it to the point of what we love to do,” he says. That includes a stronger emphasis on production, something drummer Troy Bruner has been particularly passionate about shaping.

Even with a packed touring schedule ahead, Simmons admits the creative process never really stops. Songs are already forming, both on the road and at home. “I kind of always am working on something,” he says. It’s less a conscious effort and more a constant state of motion, the same instinct that led to Kill the Ghost in the first place.

For now, though, the focus is on getting this album into as many hands as possible. Not just as a collection of songs, but as an experience. A mirror. A conversation. “We just believe in what we’re doing,” Simmons says. “It really means the world when people take the time to listen.”

With Kill the Ghost, Little Image isn’t offering easy answers. Instead, they’re inviting listeners to sit with the noise, confront the characters, and maybe, just maybe, quiet them long enough to find something real on the other side.■