You saw the headline, so you already know you're in. A new Mountain Goats album would be enough. A new Mountain Goats song inspired by Charlie Sheen's snuff film panic? Now we're fucking cooking. Today, we get both. Today is a good day.
It's only been, what, six months since the Mountain Goats released Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan, their last album? That was an ambitious concept LP with appearances from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tommy Stinson. Since then, the Mountain Goats released the one-off single "Going To Fennario" and dropped two cover songs with Mary Chapin Carpenter. Today, the indie institution announces plans for Days, their 24th studio album, as well as a huge international tour that'll hit some iconic venues.
It's time to talk about lead single "Charlie Sheen Reaches Out To The Feds," a driving and wordy track with some big, bouncy horns. Darnielle sings the song in a version of the barking, tremulous voice that I most associate with the Mountain Goats. It's my favorite mode for him. As always, this one has a backstory. In 1991, the year that he starred in the first Hot Shots!, Charlie Sheen watched a Japanese horror movie called Guinea Pig 2: Flower Of Flesh And Blood. He was so disturbed by one of its gore scenes that he reportedly contacted the FBI, believing that he'd seen film of a woman being murdered in real life. The FBI launched an investigation into the film and its distributors but dropped it when they saw a making-of video about the film's production. Later on, some other things happened with Sheen's career.
On the song, John Darnielle sings from the perspective of an unsettled but determined Charlie Sheen: "Gentlemen, the camera doesn't lie! How many more innocent women must die?" I love it. It's awesome. In a press release, John Darnielle says that Days was originally going to be titled Grunges and that it was a sequel to the great 2017 MG album Goths. At least some of that original concept is still there, since Days features numbers called "Song For Layne Staley" and "Candlebox." "Going To Fennario" is on there, too. Allow Darnielle to describe the record:
This album began life as Grunges, a sequel to Goths, after I made a joke on social media about writing a song called "Contemplating Pearl Jam In The Carolina Dawn." A few months later, my wife left town for a two week residency in Virginia. My wife leaving town to play hockey in Banff is how All Hail West Texas happened. These songs are loosely about the '70s, '80s, and '90s, which is to say they’re about the accumulation of days, each one a little further back than the next, sometimes miraculously seeming clearer as they recede and sometimes blurring into unrecognizable shapes which are sometimes pleasant and sometimes troubling. Most songs here are in major keys, but don’t let that fool you. If you do let that fool you, I have a bridge to sell you; there is nothing on the other side of the bridge. Still, you shouldn’t let that deter you. Who am I to tell you what kind of bridge you need, or where the bridge you need should lead? Nobody, really. Nobody at all.
The Mountain Goats recorded Days at Manhattan's Sear Sound with producer John Congleton, and Rob Jost sat in on bass and French horn. The LP features group backing vocals from Catherine Russsell and Jamie and Carolyn Leonhart. Matt Nathanson sings on "Candlebox." The Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegal sings the layered backup vocals on "Hidden Majesty Of Later Venom Albums," and that's just a delightful combination of proper nouns.
In the months ahead, the Mountain Goats will tour across North America and Europe, and they'll headline Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall at the end of the year. Along the way, they'll play a few shows with their old buddies in the Hold Steady, and that band's frontman Craig Finn will open for the Mountain Goats in Europe. Below, please enjoy "Charlie Sheen Reaches Out To The Feds," the Days tracklist, and the band's tour dates.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Song For Layne Staley"
02 "Charlie Sheen Reaches Out To The Feds"
03 "Shallow Grave"
04 "Candlebox"
05 "Annie Haslam Imperial Phase"
06 "Crying On Eddie Nash’s Grave"
07 "Days"
08 "Best Hard Rock Albums 2013"
09 "Going To Fennario"
10 "Woodstock"
11 "Hidden Majesty Of Later Venom Albums"
12 "Last Day"
TOUR DATES:
5/15 - Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
5/16 - Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater
5/17 - New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
5/19 - Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues
5/21 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
5/22 - Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell's Beer Garden
5/23 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue Theatre
5/24 - St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
5/26 - Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
5/28 - Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall
5/29 - Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
5/30 - Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
5/31 - Charleston, SC @ Spoleto Festival USA
6/25 - Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
6/26 - Berwyn, IL @ Fitzgeralds Outdoors
7/10 - Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre ^
8/08 - Portland, OR @ Pioneer Courthouse Square *
8/09 - Seattle, WA @ ZooTunes at Woodland Park Zoo *
8/14 - Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
8/15 - Cleveland, OH @ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
8/16 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
8/17 - Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom
8/19 - South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Ballroom
8/20 - Lititz, PA @ Mickey's Black Box
8/21 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
8/22 - Durham, NC @ DPAC
10/05 - Helsinki, Finland @ Kuudes Linja #
10/07 - Stockholm, Sweden @ Nalen #
10/08 - Oslo, Norway @ Vulkan Arena #
10/10 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Pumpehuset #
10/11 - Berlin, Germany @ Metropol #
10/12 - Hamburg, Germany @ Pop Seasons at Christianskirche
10/13 - Ghent, Belgium @ De Centrale #
10/14 - Utrecht, Netherlands @ TivoliVredenburg #
10/16 - Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall #
10/18 - Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street #
10/19 - Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom #
10/21 - London, UK @ Hackney Church #
10/22 - London, UK @ Hackney Church #
10/23 - Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon #
11/24 - Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Concert Hall
12/10 - New York, NY @ Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
12/11 - New York, NY @ Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
^ with the Avett Brothers
* with the Hold Steady
# with Craig Finn
Days is out 8/7 on the Mountain Goats' own Cadmean Dawn label. Pre-order it here.
