The Mountain Goats have shared details of a new album. Bleed Out, the band's 21st studio effort, arrives August 19 via Merge.
Produced by Bully's Alicia Bognanno, Bleed Out follows last year's Dark in Here, and — unlike some of John Darnielle's recent songwriting — was inspired by action movies from the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. The album's filmic cover art, seen above, comes courtesy of illustrator John DeLucca.
"I got this idea to write a bunch of songs where they were all uptempo mini-action movies," Darnielle said in a statement. "Plots, characters, heists, hostages, questionable capers, getaway cars, all that stuff. Gas pedal glued to the floor. Eventually as you might guess I wanted at least one song where the tempo relaxed a little and that's the title track but otherwise buckle up. We hid out in the woods in Chapel Hill and made this album with nobody knowing about it. Proper secret-soldier style. It has been pretty hard keeping this under our hats, we are really proud of what we got here."
Darnielle adds on Bandcamp that this process was "similar to the one I used in the early days of the Mountain Goats and which was a joy to revisit," further thanking the actors and directors of his chosen films: "May your blood stain the concrete, the asphalt, the Miami streets, and the carpet of the banquet room in the upstairs of a Little Italy restaurant forever."
Opener "Training Montage" is the first song to arrive alongside today's album news, and you can hear it alongside a video before.
Of his producer, Darnielle shared that he was introduced to Bognanno by his manager. "We met up and hit it off," he shared in a release. "She's a great guitarist. It was kind of just a lark, to see what would happen, and it was totally great."
Darnielle and the Mountain Goats have mapped out tour dates through the US and Europe this summer and fall, which you can find here.
Bleed Out:
1. Training Montage
2. Mark on You
3. Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome
4. Extraction Point
5. Bones Don't Rust
6. First Blood
7. Make You Suffer
8. Guys on Every Corner
9. Hostages
10. Need More Bandages
11. Incandescent Ruins
12. Bleed Out
Produced by Bully's Alicia Bognanno, Bleed Out follows last year's Dark in Here, and — unlike some of John Darnielle's recent songwriting — was inspired by action movies from the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. The album's filmic cover art, seen above, comes courtesy of illustrator John DeLucca.
"I got this idea to write a bunch of songs where they were all uptempo mini-action movies," Darnielle said in a statement. "Plots, characters, heists, hostages, questionable capers, getaway cars, all that stuff. Gas pedal glued to the floor. Eventually as you might guess I wanted at least one song where the tempo relaxed a little and that's the title track but otherwise buckle up. We hid out in the woods in Chapel Hill and made this album with nobody knowing about it. Proper secret-soldier style. It has been pretty hard keeping this under our hats, we are really proud of what we got here."
Darnielle adds on Bandcamp that this process was "similar to the one I used in the early days of the Mountain Goats and which was a joy to revisit," further thanking the actors and directors of his chosen films: "May your blood stain the concrete, the asphalt, the Miami streets, and the carpet of the banquet room in the upstairs of a Little Italy restaurant forever."
Opener "Training Montage" is the first song to arrive alongside today's album news, and you can hear it alongside a video before.
Of his producer, Darnielle shared that he was introduced to Bognanno by his manager. "We met up and hit it off," he shared in a release. "She's a great guitarist. It was kind of just a lark, to see what would happen, and it was totally great."
Darnielle and the Mountain Goats have mapped out tour dates through the US and Europe this summer and fall, which you can find here.
Bleed Out:
1. Training Montage
2. Mark on You
3. Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome
4. Extraction Point
5. Bones Don't Rust
6. First Blood
7. Make You Suffer
8. Guys on Every Corner
9. Hostages
10. Need More Bandages
11. Incandescent Ruins
12. Bleed Out
