Frog Eyes Return with 'Carey's Cold Spring' as Carey Mercer Shares Cancer Diagnosis

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Sep 17, 2013

Following a few releases from his Blackout Beach project, Carey Mercer is set to return with the first new Frog Eyes album since 2010. Titled Carey's Cold Spring, this latest collection arrives digitally October 7.

A press sheet explains that the digital release, which follows the Exclaim!-approved Paul's Tomb: A Triumph, was written over the last three years. It's noted that there is "no overarching theme or conceptual thread" holding the nine-song set together, but Mercer explains that it was partly inspired by "riots, occupy, revolutions, storms, floods, melodramatic gestures, leftist factions, mass marches in the streets, the sheer and shocking crookedness of our political and economic system, fear of the right, fear of torture, of murder, of future firing squads, of the consequences of idealism, of the consequences of having no ideals or ideas."

He continued: "A part of this record is deeply fearful, almost paranoid, the sound of a person grinding his or her teeth in the night. But just a part of it. It's also the sound of the birds in the morning, I hope."

On a more personal note, the record came in the wake of his father's death and "a few words of loss pop up here and there." "Claxxon's Lament," previously recorded by Blackout Beach, appears as the album closer, recorded late into the sessions for the LP. Mercer explained in the press release that he had played the song on an acoustic guitar beside his father as he passed away.

Sadly, shortly after the final mixes were completed for this latest song cycle, Mercer was diagnosed with throat cancer. It's unclear at present if Mercer will promote the LP other than by issuing it himself on Bandcamp.

He added: "I've been really hesitant about including this, going back and forth, but I have decided to include this information: illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is a big thing, a thing that impacts a life and forces changes on the way, for example, a songwriter releases her or his product. So I release this from a place where it's hard to say if I will be on the road to promote it. This is why I have chosen to control the release myself and put it out through the limited channels available to me right now."

UPDATE: You can also now stream the album closer "Claxxon's Lament" at the bottom of the page.

Carey's Cold Spring:

1. The Road is Long
2. The Country Child
3. Your Holiday Treat
4. Don't Give Up Your Dreams
5. A Needle in the Sun
6. Noni's got a taste for the Bright Red Air Jordans
7. A Duration of Starts and Lines that Form Code
8. Seven Daughters
9. Claxxon's Lament

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