The band's first release since 2022's acclaimed Arrangements, Ill at Ease also marks the group's first release with Born Losers. The record finds Preoccupations drawing upon new inspiration, both sonically and from lived experiences, to create the dynamic eight tracks that make up the project. Ill at Ease maintains the groups signature post-punk sound that's earned them accolades from Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, and others, while drawing upon the nostalgia from the music of the 80's and 90's that served as a major influence for the album. "The well of dark things to write about seemingly has not dried up, and lyrically, it's where I still tend to draw from. Draining all my anxieties into a song is often the only way I can get through a day. Some songs exist in a world with barren plains of burnt earth, covered in a dust of shame, dread, death, where all the things I love are things that kill me," explains Flegel. "Some come from the perspective of another distant world, looking skyward into a science fiction ocean of space, solitude, slight hope. Sometimes I'm looking around at the world that we live in now with incredulity, hilariously dissatisfied with how it's all turned out, and assuming that it can't be long before it's all over. Some songs are just a reflection of me looking down at my feet while I trudge along wondering what I'm doing with myself, and if the ground is going to fall out from underneath me at any given moment."