The Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle lives in Durham, North Carolina, the same town where indie megalith Merge is based. Mountain Goats drummer Jon Wurster also plays in Merge's Superchunk, alongside Merge founders Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance. And now two of Darnielle's projects have signed to Merge. Makes sense, don't it?
After five albums on 4AD, the Mountain Goats will release their next album on Merge. And the label has also snapped up the Extra Lens (formerly known as the Extra Glenns), Darnielle's collaboration with fellow prolifically erudite singer-songwriter Franklin Bruno.
Darnielle and Bruno's previous Extra Glenns full-length, Martial Arts Weekend, came out in 2002. Undercard, the new Extra Lens album, arrives October 19. Darnielle plays guitar and sings on the album, while Bruno handles arrangements. The duo recorded the album in Brooklyn and North Carolina with producers Brian Paulson and Mitch Rackin. Up above, you can download album track "Only Existing Footage", and we've got the tracklist below. Huge, huge bonus points for including a song called "Rockin' Rockin' Twilight of the Gods".
The Mountain Goats have a few dates coming up in late summer and fall, while the Extra Lens will tour later this year. Dates for the Mountain Goats below.
Undercard:
01 Adultery 02 Crusierweights 03 Only Existing Footage 04 Communicating Doors 05 Programmed Cell Death 06 How I Left the Ministry 07 Some Other Way 08 Ambivalent Landscape Z 09 In Germany Before the War 10 Tug on the Line 11 Rockin' Rockin' Twilight of the Gods 12 Dogs of Clinic 17
Mountain Goats:
08-28 Durham, NC - Music for Fences Benefit 09-04 Los Angeles, CA - FYF Festival 09-08 Leeds, England - Brudenell Social Club 09-09 London, England - Koko 09-10 Dorset, England - End of the Road Festival 10-04 Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck 10-05 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note 10-06 Oklahoma City, OK - ACM @ UCO Performance Lab 10-08-10 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits
