Last year, Modern Baseball’s Jake Ewald released a handful of demos under the name Slaughter Beach, Dog. Next month, he’ll follow that up with his side project’s first full-length, Welcome. It contrasts Ewald’s starkly personal, sharp songwriting for his main band with his ability to build a compelling narrative outside of his own experiences. The songs on Welcome are written from the perspective of fictional characters living in Slaughter Beach — lead single “Monsters” channels Ewald’s familiar suburban ennui through the point of view of a 22-year-old girl still living in her parents’ house.

“Still speaking in a whisper on the phone/ Grandma, lit up, cursing in the guest room/ All pissed off over the font on the family tomb,” he sings. It’s those kind of specifics — alluding to a passed away brother, a father’s absence — that drive “Monsters” and the album as a whole, painting Ewald’s constructed world in vivid detail. The distinctive viewpoints allow his knack for poignant twists of phrase to hit that much harder: “I keep trying to outline a better life, but the pen’s run dry/ The lines never come out right anyway/ There are monsters everywhere I turn in disguises my young self couldn’t discern.” Listen below.

Tracklist:
01 “Mallrat Semi-Annual”
02 “Toronto Mug”
03 “Monsters”
04 “Bed Fest”
05 “Forever”
06 “Jobs”
07 “Politics Of Grooming”
08 “Drinks”
09 “Toronto Mug II”
10 “Essex Street”

Welcome is out 9/30 via Lame-O Records. Pre-order it physically here or digitally here.