New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Mountain Goats' 'In League With Dragons' (April 26 / Merge Records) surges with wild tales of revenge and redemption, heroes at a crossroads, and great figures in decline. The Mountain Goats present twelve new songs penned by John Darnielle that luxuriate in a wide swath of sounds, from shades of the 80s Athens scene to swathes of outlaw country and a few motorik meditations.
Later today Darnielle will unveil more about the album via a Facebook Live from Wizards of the Coast (makers of D&D and Magic: The Gathering) at 4PM Eastern / 1PM Pacific: https://www.facebook.com/mountaingoatsmusic/
Say John Darnielle:
"This album began life as a rock opera about a besieged seaside community called Riversend ruled by a benevolent wizard, for which some five to seven songs were written. When I'm focusing on a project, I always distract myself from the through-line with multiple byways, which are kind of like mini-games within the broader architecture of a long video game. As I worked on the Riversend stuff, weird noir visions started creeping in, probably under the influence of
Leonardo Sciascia (a Sicilian author, he wrote mysteries) and Ross MacDonald's The Zebra-Striped Hearse, which a friend from Port Washington gave me while I was in the thick of the writing. I thought these moods helped complicate the wizards and dragons a little, and, as I thought about my wizard, his health failing, the invasion by sea almost certain to wipe out half his people, I thought about what such a person might look like in the real world: watching a country show at a midwestern casino, or tryout pitching for an American League team years after having lit up the marquees. Finally, I wrote the title track, which felt like a drawing-together of the themes in play: rebellion against irresistible tides, the lush vistas of decay, necessary alliances. I am earnestly hoping that a new genre called "dragon noir" will spring from the forehead of nearly two years' work on these songs, but, if not, I am content for this to be the sole example of the style."
'In League With Dragons' was engineered by Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, Jason Isbell, John Prine) and recorded by The Mountain Goats - songwriter and guitarist Darnielle, drummer Jon Wurster, bassist
Peter Hughes, and multi-instrumentalist Matt
Douglas - at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, TN. Robert Bailey contributed additional vocal arrangements and strings performed by the Macedonian
Radio Symphonic Orchestra.
The Mountain Goats recently announced a nearly 40-date tour that launches on album release day, April 26, at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC, and extends into September, playing some of their biggest venues to date and multiple nights in select cities.
This incredible amount of activity for the year ahead follows a very busy 2018. The Mountain Goats toured extensively, co-produced several episodes (and a live event) of the acclaimed podcast I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats and surprise-released the 'Hex of Infinite Binding' EP. 2017's 'Goths' LP was met with universal acclaim. John Darnielle has written more than 600 songs, and his novel 'Wolf in White Van' spent several weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List.
Pre-order 'In League With Dragons' here: https://smarturl.it/TMG-Dragons
Track list for 'In League With Dragons'
1. Done Bleeding
2. Younger
3. Passaic 1975
4. Clemency for the Wizard King
5. Possum by Night
6. In League with Dragons
7. Doc Gooden
8. Going Invisible 2
9.
Waylon Jennings Live!
10. Cadaver Sniffing Dog
11. An Antidote for Strychnine
12. Sicilian Crest
TOUR DATES:
4/26 - 9:30 - Washington, D.C. (SOLD OUT)
4/27 - Dogfish Head - Milton, DE (SOLD OUT)
4/28 - The Wilbur Theater - Boston, MA (SOLD OUT)
4/30 - Brooklyn Steel - Brooklyn, NY
5/1 - White Eagle Hall - Jersey City, NJ
5/3 - L'Astral - Montreal, QB
5/4 - Bronson Centre - Ottawa, ON
5/5 -
Phoenix - Toronto, ON
5/7 - Mr Smalls - Pittsburgh, PA
5/8 - Mr Smalls - Pittsburgh, PA
5/9 - Woodward Theater - Cincinnati, OH
5/10 - Cannery - Nashville, TN
5/11 - 1884 Lounge - Memphis, TN
5/13 - Buskirk Chumley - Bloomington, IN
5/14 - Majestic Theatre - Madison, WI
5/15 -
Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL
5/16 -
Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL
5/17 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
8/28 - Metro
Music Hall - Salt Lake City, UT
8/29 - Pink Garter - Jackson, WY
8/30 - Pub Station - Billings, MT
8/31 - Top Hat Lounge - Missoula, MT
9/1 - The
Bing Crosby Theater - Spokane, WA
9/4 - The Showbox -Seattle, WA
9/5 - Neumos - Seattle, WA
9/6 - Imperial Vancouver - Vancouver, BC
9/7 - McDonald Theatre - Eugene, OR
9/9 - Crystal Ballroom - Portland, OR
9/10 -
Aladdin - Portland, OR
9/12 - The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA
9/13 - The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA
9/14 - Belasco Theater - Los Angeles, CA
9/16 - House of Blues - Anaheim, CA
9/17 - House of Blues - San Diego, CA
9/18 - Brooklyn Bowl - Las Vegas, NV
https://www.mountain-goats.com/
