All Hail West Texas will be reissued by Merge on 23 July, 2013 – it’s available for presale now at that Merge link. John Darnielle will be grateful to Matt Fraction for writing this bio even unto the grave, yea, and far beyond. The town of West, Texas could really use whatever help you can give so if you have a little extra pass it along. Thanks!
Desaparecidos new seven-inch single “Anonymous/The Left is Right” is available for pre-order beginning February 7th at the Desaparecidos webstore.
Preview both songs over at Rolling Stone, or stream them below.
Love is Won is on the GIRLS soundtrack, in stores today!
LOVE IS WON was featured as the closing song on episode 9. W MAGAZINE picked it out as one of their top four favorite of the season. Full article here
Mount Moriah will release Miracle Temple, their breakthrough second LP and first new album for Merge Records, on February 26 in the US and March 4 in UK.
Fiercely contemporary yet rich with classic influences, Mount Moriah’s Miracle Temple sports bigger arrangements, louder guitars, bolder vocals, and more soulful rhythms than their acclaimed self-titled debut. Through their artful personal storytelling, the band develops a piercing portrait of a “New South” where progressive traditions are still fitfully breaking free from conservative ones. Mount Moriah’s cathartic vision for their home and themselves is writ large in their lovingly critical negotiation with romantic, political, and gender identities; geographical perspective; confrontation and forgiveness. The drive for change, resolute but tinged with regret, is arrestingly captured in the cover image of a burning barn.
Singer/guitarist Heather McEntire says, “I feel like there’s a lot of confrontation in this record that stems from the confidence we developed doing the first one by ourselves.” That newfound clarity of purpose results in music that balances nervy beauty and resounding force, in beautifully wrought lyrics that compress condemnation and confession into subtle poetry. “Things that were almost questions before are more like answers now,” says guitarist Jenks Miller. “There was a timidity to Heather’s voice on the first record, singing in this naked way without distortion. Now, it’s commanding, which allows the arrangements to do more.”
McEntire and Miller are at the heart of Mount Moriah. Bassist Casey Toll joined the band in 2010, while James Wallace provided drums, organ, and piano on the album. Miracle Temple was recorded over five days at Beech House in Nashville and co-produced by Mark Nevers, Miller, and McEntire; mixed by Nevers; and mastered by Alex McCollough. McEntire, Miller, and Toll wrote the music, with all lyrics by McEntire except for “Union Street Bridge,” co-written with the poet Sarah Messer. Additional tracking was done by Miller, James Wallace, Jeff Crawford, Jaron Pearlman, and Daniel Hart. The expanded arrangements feature an impressive variety of guest stars. Hart provides violin, and Allyn Love plays pedal steel. Indigo Girl Amy Ray sings gospel-tinged backing vocals alongside Bibis Ellison, Ryan Gustafson, and Midtown Dickens’ Will Hackney and Catherine Edgerton.
Recently released on vinyl for the first time, Mount Moriah’s self-titled debut quickly put them on the national radar. They were tapped for a national tour with the Indigo Girls; endorsed by Pitchfork, NPR, The Onion A.V. Club, Stereogum, PopMatters, and others; named the creators of North Carolina’s best 2011 album by Shuffle Magazine; and featured on Bon Iver’s celebrity playlist on iTunes. Much acclaim focused on the riveting stage presence of McEntire, hailed by the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle as the kind one rarely discovers, a sentiment echoed by Paste Magazine’s Shane Ryan who wrote: “McEntire fits into that rarified subgroup of charismatic performers. … When she sings, the transformation begins. The energy is evident in her eyes […] and in her voice, a powerful instrument capable of finding the perfect emotional tone within the lyrics. … I left the venue knowing Heather McEntire will be huge.”
Miracle Temple is available for pre-order now in the Merge store on CD and LP. Also, throughout the holiday season, LP pre-orders will receive a free Merge slipmat. Mount Moriah’s self-titled debut is now available on LP in the Merge store as well. Don’t forget . . . the Merge Holiday Code works on pre-orders, too!
Well, the new record is upon us!
“Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon” is available now. You can get it in stores, iTunes, or from us directly here.
So far, folks love it. Many of you who contributed to our Kickstarter campaign already have your copies of the album. Which reminds me- Holy Amazeballs, gang! Thank you again to all of you who contributed and made our Kickstarter such a success. Wowee. We are some lucky sonsabitches to have such amazing fans. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts. You’ve put us in a festive mood, so we’re going to play some shows for your enjoyment.
-MBD
On October 2, Merge Records will release the self-titled debut album from North Carolina’s Mount Moriah on LP. Available for the first time on vinyl, Mount Moriah was described by NPR Music as “an infectious brew of gospel, folk, rock and country that asks questions of the establishment while looking at love from every angle.”
The band will follow up the vinyl release of its debut album with a brand-new full-length in early 2013.
As record store clerks in Chapel Hill, NC, Heather McEntire (of post-punk veterans Bellafea) and Jenks Miller (of heavy-psych/metal outfit Horseback) spent their evenings creating Mount Moriah as an outlet for their mutual interest in classic American folk and rock music. Born in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, McEntire weaves narratives into spectral tapestries imbued with the complex majesty of the South and its deep-seated spirituality. With nods to both classic folk-rock and their contemporaries, Mount Moriah challenges existing traditional folk music forms with arrangements born from Miller’s interest in minimalism and sound texture.
Lia Ices for GAP Fall 2012 “Icons Redefined” Collection
God Bless You, Amigo is a collection of home recordings made in the spring of 2012. Due to a cloud of misfortune resembling in part the curse of Rocky Colavito, our home was nearly destroyed by a freak hurricane, our prized and seemingly immutable Winnebago was driven to the ground and mercy shot like an exhausted horse somewhere in Vermont (long may she stalk the golden highways of heaven), our lead guitarist, Wall Street Panic Snopes, was hospitalized for an acute skin disorder in a foreign hospital, and then in what seemed a perfect finale all of our amps sizzled out and died during rehearsal upon his return.
This made us go insane with laughter and play our favorite song “Gulf Of Mexico,” which is also a known aid in exorcism, for what seemed like hours. The old fiddle tune had a strange power over the band but our management convinced us that releasing a four hour instrumental was a little too reckless even for us. After much deliberation we all agreed that we should play songs other then “Gulf of Mexico.” We all spit in our hands and shook on it. The material consists of eight traditional folk songs and twelve original songs that we’ve always liked but never had a chance to put on records.
The proceeds from God Bless You, Amigo will hopefully help us get a new tour vehicle so that we can come and play your town, or allow us to go into a studio and record a new album, as we have a lot of new material, or maybe just fix our amps. It’s only a five dollar download, but you can give more if you are feeling philanthropic. God bless you, Amigos – The Felice Brothers
