PREORDER

Put the Message in the Box b/w Migrations

Two Cover Songs in Collaboration with Mary Chapin Carpenter

via Cadmean Dawn Records and Tapes

“Put the Message In the Box / Migrations” is streaming now and available to preorder on limited edition Highway Tar Swirl or Windshield Clear 7" vinyl via Cadmean Dawn Records & Tapes

“I’ve looked up to Mary Chapin Carpenter for half my life. Getting to know her over the past few years has been such a pure pleasure, so when she asked about doing a split single where we pick songs to cover and help each other out on the effort, what could we say but “hell yes”? Mary Chapin picked a World Party song I’ve always loved and I picked out a Christine Fellows song I can barely sing without crying. But I did it! Matt arranged it! This was a great joy for us and I hope you dig it!”

– JD

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Side A: Put the Message in the Box (Karl Wallinger)

Mary Chapin Carpenter, lead vocal · John Darnielle, vocal · Matt Douglas, piano, acoustic guitar · Chris Boerner, bass, electric guitar · Jon Wurster, drums, percussion

Side B: Migrations (Christine Fellows)

John Darnielle, lead vocal · Mary Chapin Carpenter, vocal · Matt Douglas, bass clarinet, alto sax, piano· Chris Boerner, bass · Jon Wurster, drums, percussion

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Through This Fire

Across From Peter Balkan

THE NEW ALBUM FROM THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

via Cadmean Dawn Records and Tapes

A fishing boat, helmed by Captain Peter Balkan, sets sail from port with a crew of fifteen. In heavy waters on the open sea, the vessel keels over and is lost; only three of the crew survive. These three – Peter Balkan, a crewman named Adam, and an unnamed narrator – wash ashore on an islet too small and barren to sustain life. Captain Balkan, having sustained injury to his head in the wreck, begins to suffer great visions, prophesying the end of the world and the arrival of a new kingdom. As Balkan deteriorates, Adam goes missing, presumably drowned. The narrator is left to care for his captain in his final days. Alone, he imagines himself restored to society in the world before the wreck, vowing to remember his companions in catastrophe.

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Produced by the Mountain Goats’ multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas, Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan is a full-on musical that stands as the most conceptually detailed and musically elaborate project in the band’s ever-expanding catalog. It features appearances from The Replacements’ Tommy Stinson, harpist Mikaela Davis, musical theater royalty Lin-Manuel Miranda, and bassist Cameron Ralston.

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Live Archive Vol. 1:

Going to Princeton (10/20/24)

Jon and Matt rolled on from Chicago in the bus but I stayed behind because there was a chance to see my favorite band in the world: Souled American. For two nights I watched them make magic in a small room, in the company of others like me, people who'd been waiting and hoping for a long time. The morning after Souled American's second show I went from hotel to cab to airport to a train that took me to the McCarter Theatre. There were pictures of all the people who'd played there in years past on the walls backstage. Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Cassandra Wilson. These are heroes of mine. We always try to be conscious of who's stood on a stage before we got there and to carry it forward a little. It was a special night in New Jersey.

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