Titus Andronicus – “Dimed Out”
There is a new Titus Andronicus song in the world, and it is awesome. “Dimed Out” arrives via Merge Records — signaling a label change from XL Recordings — and it’s will be followed by an album-as-rock-opera called The Most Lamentable Tragedy this July. This thing is exactly the kind of fist-pump howl-along powerhouse I needed this morning, and you really ought to listen to it on repeat for the rest of the day. Do so below.
Titus frontman Patrick Stickles tells Grantland that the album is a 93-minute rock opera in five acts, with 28 songs plus a 73-second intermission. The tracklist includes covers of the Pogues’ “A Pair Of Brown Eyes,” Daniel Johnston’s “I Had Lost My Mind,” and “Auld Lang Syne.” It’s coming out on Stickles’ 30th birthday, and its release will be marked by a five-night stand at Brooklyn’s Shea Stadium from 7/24-28. The band’s only other announced date right now is this Saturday, 5/2 at Waking Windows in Burlington, Vermont. The story includes this quote from Stickles:
I love rock and roll — just regular LPs give me a lot of pleasure. I have another, equally strong love for pieces of art that have different standards in place for, like, what makes them excellent, you know? I wanted to work on a macro level and a micro level. You can enjoy [this album] for three minutes and it’s just a good time. Or you can invest 93 minutes and hopefully you’ll get something else out of it.
Some album credits from a press release indicate that Owen Pallett plus members of awesome Brooklyn bands like Baked and the So So Glos appear on the record:
TMLT was produced by frequent collaborator Kevin McMahon and +@ lead guitarist Adam Reich. The core band is rounded out by the long-standing rhythm section of Eric Harm (drums) and Julian Veronesi (bass) plus rookie guitarist Jonah Maurer. Joining in throughout are pianist Elio DeLuca and violinist Owen Pallett, beside a cast of guests representing some of New York’s most exciting bands (The So So Glos, Baked, Bad Credit No Credit, Lost Boy?, etc.).
And here’s some info on the concept, also from the press release:
The central narrative of TMLT (“a work of fiction,” claims singer/songwriter Patrick Stickles) concerns an unnamed protagonist whom we meet in deep despair. Following an encounter with his own doppelgänger (an enigmatic stranger, identical in appearance though opposite in disposition), long held secrets are revealed, sending our protagonist on a transformative odyssey, through past lives and new loves, to the shocking revelation that the very thing that sustains him may be the thing to destroy him.
Tracklist:
01 “The Angry Hour”
02 “No Future IV: No Future Triumphant”
03 “Stranded (On My Own)”
04 “Lonely Boy”
05 “I Lost My Mind (+@)”
06 “Look Alive”
07 “The Magic Morning”
08 “Lookalike”
09 “I Lost My Mind ( DJ )”
10 “Mr. E. Mann”
11 “Fired Up”
12 “Dimed Out”
13 “More Perfect Union”
14 “[Intermission]”
15 “Sun Salutation”
16 “(S)HE SAID / (S)HE SAID”
17 “Funny Feeling”
18 “Fatal Flaw”
19 “Please”
20 “Come On, Siobhan”
21 “A Pair of Brown Eyes”
22 “Auld Lang Syne”
23 “I’m Going Insane (Finish Him)”
24 “The Fall”
25 “Into the Void (Filler)”
26 “No Future Part V: In Endless Dreaming”
27 “[ seven seconds ]”
28 “Stable Boy”
29 “A Moral”
Really, really hoping “I’m Going Insane (Finish Him)” involves Mortal Kombat. Also, “Come On Siobhan” has to be a Walkmen reference, right?
Read our 2013 Titus Andronicus feature, in which Patrick Stickles expressed frustration with XL, here.
The Most Lamentable Tragedy is out 7/28 on Merge. Get fuuuuucking stoked.
[Photo by Matthew Greeley.]
