Nearly one year after releasing their 20th studio album Dark In Here, the famously prolific Mountain Goats are back with a follow-up project, Bleed Out, arriving August 19 via Merge. Produced by Bully’s Alicia Bognanno and recorded in a studio near Chapel Hill, Bleed Out is inspired by “action movies from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s” and features an on-theme lead single titled “Training Montage.”

Here’s what John Darnielle had to say about “Training Montage” and Bleed Out.

So, heads up. I got this idea to write a bunch of songs where they were all uptempo mini-action movies. 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. Alicia Bognanno produced & played with us, and the great Shani Gandhi mixed. The first single is “Training Montage” which does what it says on the tin, and you can preorder the album now, and as for tour dates…you know we gotta bring these uptempo jams to a stage near you at the earliest possible convenience.

Listen to “Training Montage” below.

TOUR DATES:
06/25 – Durham, NC @ Durham Bulls Athletic Park (That Music Fest)
07/09 – Charleston, SC @ Music Farm *
07/10 – Jacksonville, FL @ Intuition Ale Works *
07/11 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Palladium Theater *
07/12 – Tallahassee, FL @ The Moon *
07/14 – Memphis, TN @ Minglewood Hall ^
07/15 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway ^
07/16 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s ^
07/17 – Wichita, KS @ Wave ^
08/28 – Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry
08/29 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Anchor Rock Club
08/31 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
09/02 – Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre
09/03 – Pawtucket, RI @ The Met
9/04 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage
09/07 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Beer Garden
09/08 – McKees Rocks, PA @ Roxian Theatre
09/09 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
09/10 – Bloomington, IN @ Bluebird Nightclub
09/11 – Little Rock, AR @ Little Rock Hall
09/13 – Fayetteville, AR @ JJ’s Live
09/15 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
09/16 – Austin, TX @ Paramount Theatre
09/17 – Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips
09/18 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s
09/20 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
09/21 – Knoxville, TN @ Bijou Theatre
09/22 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
09/23 – Wilmington, NC @ Greenfield Lake Amphitheater
11/10 – Vienna, Austria @ WUK Foyer ~
11/11 – Berlin, Germany @ Columbia Theater ~
11/12 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso ~
11/14 – Antwerp, Belgium @ De Roma ~
11/16 – London, UK @ Roundhouse ~
11/17 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall ~
11/18 – Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street ~
* duo performance with Izzy Heltai
^ duo performance with Abby Hamilton
~ with Carson McHone

Bleed Out is out 8/19 via Merge. Pre-order it here.