Prey is the fourth studio album by American rock band Planes Mistaken for Stars. Following the band's 2008 breakup and their 2010 sporadic return to touring, Prey marks the band's first release since the compilation album We Ride to Fight! (2007) and first release of new material since Mercy (2006). The album was released on October 21, 2016, through Deathwish Inc. who also reissued and remastered Mercy the previous year. The album debuted at number 12 at Billboard Heatseeksers.
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Background and writing
Following the release of what was then-known as their final album Mercy in 2006, frontman Gared O'Donnell wanted to put his music and touring days behind him to start a family and lead a more stable life. After a few years, O'Donnell says he went through a "pre-midlife crisis" and grew to miss being in a traveling band. Feeling that he couldn't concentrate in his home with his family and home office as possible distractions, O'Donnell drive around for four hours and ended up at a Motel Six in Waukegan, Illinois—a couple hundred miles away from his house. The idea to travel for creative inspiration came from writers such as Jack Kerouac and John Steinbeck.