Monsters of Folk Reissue Debut Album with Five New Songs

Hear the previously unreleased "Disappeared" alongside a visualizer

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished May 14, 2024

Monsters of Folk are celebrating the 15th anniversary of their first and only album with a new, expanded edition of the effort.

The supergroup of My Morning Jacket's Jim James, M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) will share the expanded self-titled LP on June 14 via ATO Records.

For the new edition, Monsters of Folk have tacked on five additional studio tracks from a previously unreleased 2012 session featuring "Fifth Monster" Will Johnson (Centro-Matic).

Per a release, the five additional tracks were initially meant to accompany a dystopic sci-fi film based on a screenplay penned by Oberst, which was eventually shelved. James had previously teased the film and a new album in a 2016 Reddit AMA.

"Disappeared" is the first of those extras to arrive, and you can hear it in the player below alongside a visualizer.

"That session was very much kept in the moment," says Johnson. "I remember looking over at Jim playing drums on 'Disappeared,' joyfully bashing away, and it harboured that same exuberance of starting your first band: that moment in the garage where things take flight, and the energy and happiness just lead you onward."

"Making this album brought me back to the same feelings I had when I first started a band, or first started playing music in general — there's a real simplicity and excitement to playing with folks you don't normally play with," James reflects in a release. "The spirit of play is alive on this whole thing."

The expanded Monsters of Folk will arrive digitally and on clear vinyl. The album is now available for pre-order.

 

Monsters of Folk (Deluxe):

1. Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)
2. Say Please
3. Whole Lotta Losin
4. Temazcal
5. The Right Place
6. Baby Boomer
7. Man Named Truth
8. Goodway
9. Ahead of the Curve
10. Slow Down Jo
11. Losin Yo Head
12. Magic Marker
13. Map of the World
14. The Sandman, the Brakeman and Me
15. His Master's Voice
16. Dear to the Assassin
17. Sweet Silence
18. The Living Thing
19. Museum Guard
20. Disappeared

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