The Mountain Goats are gearing up to release their 20th (!) album. Today the indie folk veterans have announced the action-packed Bleed Out, due out August 19th on Merge Records, and shared the record’s first single, “Training Montage.” Plus, the band has mapped out new tour dates.
Bleed Out is all about energy. Inspired by pandemic cabin fever and the fight scenes of old-school action movies, The Mountain Goats’ latest project is understandably a bit rougher than their acoustic reputation might suggest. Singer-songwriter John Darnielle explained the album’s origins in a statement.
“So, heads up. I got this idea to write a bunch of songs where they were all uptempo mini-action movies,” Darnielle said. “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.”
In keeping with the band’s ferocious new direction, The Mountain Goats enlisted Bully’s Alicia Bognanno to produce Bleed Out, which they recorded in a single week. First single “Training Montage” lays Darnielle’s (and every action hero’s) intentions bare: “I’m doing this for revenge,” he sings, just as the track’s acoustic beginning explodes into a full-band strut. Listen to the vengeance-themed track below.
Bleed Out arrives on High-Velocity Spatter” red marble, double Peak Vinyl, CD, and cassette. Pre-orders are available now, and the album’s movie poster-inspired artwork and tracklist are listed below.
Along with the new album, The Mountain Goats will embark on a US tour this August before hitting the UK in November. See the full list of tour dates below, and grab tickets via Ticketmaster.
Just last June, The Mountain Goats released album 19, Dark in Here. We caught up with John Darnielle to discuss the band’s recent output, and rounded up their 10 most career-defining songs.
Bleed Out Artwork:
Bleed Out Tracklist:
01. Training Montage
02. Mark on You
03. Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome
04. Extraction Point
05. Bones Don’t Rust
06. First Blood
07. Make You Suffer
08. Guys on Every Corner
09. Hostages
10. Need More Bandages
11. Incandescent Ruins
12. Bleed Out
The Mountain Goats 2022 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
09/04 — 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 w/ Izzy Heltai
^ = duo performance w/ Abby Hamilton
~ = w/ Carson McHone
