Chicago experimental folk dude Bill Mackay released albums with two bands last year, Black Duck (his trio with Douglas McCombs and Charles Rumback) and BCMC (his duo with Cooper Crain). In 2024, he’ll unveil his latest solo album.

Locust Land is the official follow-up to 2019’s Fountain Fire, though Mackay is so prolific that it seems wrong to bill it as his first album in five years. In a press release, Mackay offers some background: “While making Locust Land I had a breakthrough. I saw that I could truly let a lot of things go, without losing the joy in them, and make something new in a huge way. So it is really about clearing a new path. Making a revolution of my own in life and song.”

Lead single “When I Was Here” pulls obvious influence from traditional British folk music, but it also reminds me of Sonic Youth. Watch director Mikel Patrick Avery’s video for the song below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Phantasmic Fairy”
02 “Keeping In Time”
03 “Glow Drift”
04 “Half Of You”
05 “Oh Pearl”
06 “Radiator”
07 “When I Was Here”
08 “Neil’s Field”
09 “Locust Land”

Locust Land is out 5/24 on Drag City. Pre-order it here.