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The Mountain Goats unveil new single “Sicilian Crest” from ‘In League With Dragons’ – out April 26th on Merge Records

April 12, 2019
(photo credit: Jeremy Lange)

The Mountain Goats
share “Sicilian Crest”
from upcoming album,
 In League with Dragons

The Mountain Goats have unveiled the third song, “Sicilian Crest” from their forthcoming album In League with Dragons, out April 26 on Merge Records.

Says Darnielle: 
Sicilian Crest,” lyrically, is more reminiscent of early Mountain Goats than anything since a couple of the songs on Heretic Pride — but began life as an in comprehensible title in a notebook, has its genesis in playing around at the piano with my son while a Moridira Hurricane & a Fender Twin on standby stood close at hand, and ended up being a cryptically political dance number with shades of New Order or the Alarm. My bandmates are going to kill me for referencing The Alarm in this announcement, and one of them will kill me twice if I don’t mention that the Alarm’s drummer’s name was “Twist.” So, should the worst come to pass, please enjoy my funeral, and in the meantime please enjoy this episode of “I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats.”

Also debuting earlier this week is season two of John Darnielle’s podcast I ONLY LISTEN TO THE MOUNTAIN GOATS, co-hosted with Welcome to Night Vale co-creator Joseph Fink. Recorded over several months during the making of In League With Dragons, season 2 gives us an unprecedented look at the creative process as it is happening, including the original demos for every single track on the album. This week’s episode is a breakdown of the song ‘Sicilian Crest’ and while the show focuses on the Mountain Goats’ upcoming album, the conversation is universal and captures what it means to be an artist, a fan, and as many people are, both at once. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to go inside the mind of an artist with the help of an expert in podcasting. Listen and embed episode 1 now: http://www.nightvalepresents.com/ionlylistentothemountaingoats

In League with Dragons finds the band affording a producer more leeway to guide and shape the direction of their album than ever before, calling on Owen Pallett to join them in Nashville at Blackbird Studios. It 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, alongside a core of musicians enlisted by Pallett — Bram Gielen, Thomas Gill, and Johnny Spence — who, with Pallet’s own contributions on piano and string arrangements, make In League With Dragons sonically the most fully realized album in the band’s storied catalogue. The mix is by Shani Gandhi (Sarah Jarosz, Parker Milsap, Dierks Bentley).

John recently spoke with Vanity Fair about the new album and his career, sat down with Consequence of Sound’s This Must Be The Gig podcast for an extensive interview.

The Mountain Goats will embark on tour with over 50 dates that begins April 26 at the 9:30Club in Washington, DC. Several shows on the tour have sold out.

John Darnielle and Matt Douglas will be touring the UK and Ireland this November in support of the album:

November 15 – London, 02 Shepherds Bush Empire
November 16 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club 
November 17 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
November 18 – Glasgow, St Luke’s
November 20 – Dublin, Button Factory

Pre-order links: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/music/the-mountain-goats-in-league-with-dragons

http://smarturl.it/TMG-Dragons

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