The Mountain Goats Announce New Album Days and Share Charlie Sheen-Inspired Lead Single

The Mountain Goats have announced a new album, Days, and released its lead single, “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out To The Feds.” The song arrives alongside a new international tour and comes just months after the band’s last album, Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan.

That record came out about six months ago and featured Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tommy Stinson. Since then, the band has also shared the standalone single “Going To Fennario” and two cover songs with Mary Chapin Carpenter. Days will be the Mountain Goats’ 24th studio album.

The new song is built around a real-life episode from Charlie Sheen’s career. In 1991, after watching the Japanese horror film Guinea Pig 2: Flower Of Flesh And Blood, Sheen reportedly believed he had seen a real murder and contacted the FBI. The bureau investigated before dropping the case after seeing a making-of video for the film. The song takes that panic and turns it into a fast-moving, horn-heavy track led by John Darnielle’s familiar, strained vocal delivery.

On the track, Darnielle sings in Sheen’s voice:

“Gentlemen, the camera doesn’t lie! How many more innocent women must die?”

In a press release, Darnielle said the album was first called Grunges and was conceived as a follow-up to 2017’s Goths. Some of that idea remains in place. The tracklist includes “Song For Layne Staley,” “Candlebox,” and “Going To Fennario.” Darnielle also said the songs are loosely about the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and about time passing in fragments.

“This album began life as Grunges, a sequel to Goths, after I made a joke on social media about writing a song called ‘Contemplating Pearl Jam In The Carolina Dawn.’ A few months later, my wife left town for a two week residency in Virginia. My wife leaving town to play hockey in Banff is how All Hail West Texas happened. These songs are loosely about the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, which is to say they’re about the accumulation of days, each one a little further back than the next, sometimes miraculously seeming clearer as they recede and sometimes blurring into unrecognizable shapes which are sometimes pleasant and sometimes troubling. Most songs here are in major keys, but don’t let that fool you. If you do let that fool you, I have a bridge to sell you; there is nothing on the other side of the bridge. Still, you shouldn’t let that deter you. Who am I to tell you what kind of bridge you need, or where the bridge you need should lead? Nobody, really. Nobody at all.”

Days was recorded in Manhattan at Sear Sound with producer John Congleton. Rob Jost plays bass and French horn. The album also features backing vocals from Catherine Russell, Jamie Leonhart and Carolyn Leonhart. Matt Nathanson sings on “Candlebox,” while The Manhattan Transfer’s Janis Siegal appears on “Hidden Majesty Of Later Venom Albums.”

The Mountain Goats will spend the coming months on the road across North America and Europe. The schedule includes headline dates at Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall at the end of the year, plus shows with the Hold Steady and European dates featuring Craig Finn as support. The album arrives August 7 on the band’s Cadmean Dawn label. Pre-order it here.

Tracklist

01 “Song For Layne Staley”
02 “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out To The Feds”
03 “Shallow Grave”
04 “Candlebox”
05 “Annie Haslam Imperial Phase”
06 “Crying On Eddie Nash’s Grave”
07 “Days”
08 “Best Hard Rock Albums 2013”
09 “Going To Fennario”
10 “Woodstock”
11 “Hidden Majesty Of Later Venom Albums”
12 “Last Day”

Tour dates

5/15 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
5/16 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater
5/17 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
5/19 – Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues
5/21 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
5/22 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Beer Garden
5/23 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue Theatre
5/24 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
5/26 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
5/28 – Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall
5/29 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
5/30 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
5/31 – Charleston, SC @ Spoleto Festival USA
6/25 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
6/26 – Berwyn, IL @ Fitzgeralds Outdoors
7/10 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre ^
8/08 – Portland, OR @ Pioneer Courthouse Square *
8/09 – Seattle, WA @ ZooTunes at Woodland Park Zoo *
8/14 – Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
8/15 – Cleveland, OH @ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
8/16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
8/17 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom
8/19 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Ballroom
8/20 – Lititz, PA @ Mickey’s Black Box
8/21 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
8/22 – Durham, NC @ DPAC
10/05 – Helsinki, Finland @ Kuudes Linja #
10/07 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Nalen #
10/08 – Oslo, Norway @ Vulkan Arena #
10/10 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Pumpehuset #
10/11 – Berlin, Germany @ Metropol #
10/12 – Hamburg, Germany @ Pop Seasons at Christianskirche
10/13 – Ghent, Belgium @ De Centrale #
10/14 – Utrecht, Netherlands @ TivoliVredenburg #
10/16 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall #
10/18 – Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street #
10/19 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom #
10/21 – London, UK @ Hackney Church #
10/22 – London, UK @ Hackney Church #
10/23 – Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon #
11/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Concert Hall
12/10 – New York, NY @ Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
12/11 – New York, NY @ Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall