Overview
- The Mountain Goats, which announced the album Wednesday, shared lead track “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds” and set an August 7 release on their Cadmean Dawn label.
- John Congleton produced the record at Sear Sound in Manhattan, with core members John Darnielle, Matt Douglas, and Jon Wurster joined by guests including bassist Rob Jost and harpist Mikaela Davis.
- John Darnielle says the project began as Grunges, a loose sequel to 2017’s Goths, with songs drawing on 1970s–1990s pop culture and titles such as “Song for Layne Staley,” “Candlebox,” and “Best Hard Rock Albums 2013.”
- The lead song adopts Charlie Sheen’s viewpoint from his 1991 scare over the Japanese film Guinea Pig 2, a real episode that prompted an FBI look before officials saw how the movie was made.
- The band paired the news with an extensive North American and European tour that includes headline dates at Walt Disney Concert Hall and two nights at Carnegie Hall, continuing a prolific run after a full-length release last November.