The Mountain Goats Unveil "Cadaver Sniffing Dog" From In League With Dragons (Merge/April 26)

LISTEN TO “CADAVER SNIFFING DOG” HERE: https://youtu.be/YhWmbViBAxg

 

The Mountain Goats have unveiled the second song from their forthcoming album In League with Dragons (out April 26/Merge). Listen to “Cadaver Sniffing Dog” here: https://youtu.be/YhWmbViBAxg

The propulsive, eerie “Cadaver Sniffing Dog” follows “Younger,” which was revealed along with the album announcement last month alongside a Facebook Live Q&A and acoustic performance with Darnielle at Wizards of the Coast HQ (the makers of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering): https://bit.ly/2T4LWtl

 

Says John Darnielle:

My records indicate that I wrote 'Cadaver Sniffing Dog' on Christmas Day, 2017, which probably tells you more about me than the song itself could ever hope to. I'd had the title in a notebook for several years, and had made a run or two at it, but Christmas lights & early sunsets seem to have put me in the right frame of mind to rise to the challenge of writing something morbid enough to live up to the name. Because I'm me, and favor sharp contrast, I went with something uptempo instead of, you know, a dirge.

The acoustic guitars (Matt Douglas & I playing together in the same isolation room), bass, and drums are live in the studio; the lead vocal may also have been tracked on that same take, I forget; the downtown-New-York-by-way-of-Berlin guitar solo is Thom Gill. The strings are arranged by producer Owen Pallett and performed by the Macedonian Radio Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Oleg Kondratenko. The backing vocals are arranged by Robert Bailey and sung by himself, Everett Drake, Jason Eskridge, and Michael Mishaw, with whom we also worked on the Goths album; it's a profound honor to to me to have Robert and the guys take a song and just elevate it, transport it, make it cosmic. Matt Ross-Spang engineered it and Shani Gandhi mixed it; they are actual wizards. 

The lyric is a noir vision of a crime scene investigation, and is a metaphor for a relationship in which there is nothing whatsoever left to salvage, because, as I mentioned earlier, it was Christmas, and, being the sort of person who really tries to get into the Christmas spirit, I -- well, anyway, please enjoy "Cadaver Sniffing Dog."

 



In League with Dragons was produced by Owen Pallett and engineered by Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, Jason Isbell, John Prine). It was recorded by the Mountain Goats—songwriter and guitarist Darnielle, drummer Jon Wurster, bassist Peter Hughes, and multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas—at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, TN. Robert Bailey contributed additional vocal arrangements and strings were performed by the Macedonian Radio Symphonic Orchestra.

The Mountain Goats will embark on a nearly 40-date tour on album-release day, April 26, at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. Several shows on the tour have sold out, including Brooklyn Steel on April 30.

Additionally, John's acclaimed podcast show I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, co-hosted with Welcome to Night Vale co-creator Joseph Fink, will return with season two early April with an unprecedented look at the creative process of writing, recording, and releasing In League With Dragons including original demos of every single track on the album. 

Pre-order ‘In League With Dragons’ here: http://smarturl.it/TMG-Dragons

Track List for In League With Dragons

1. Done Bleeding

2. Younger

3. Passaic 1975

4. Clemency for the Wizard King

5. Possum by Night

6. In League with Dragons

7. Doc Gooden

8. Going Invisible 2

9. Waylon Jennings Live!

10. Cadaver Sniffing Dog

11. An Antidote for Strychnine

12. Sicilian Crest

 

The Mountain Goats on tour:

Apr 26 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club (SOLD OUT)

Apr 27 Rehoboth Beach, DE – Dogfish Head Brewery (SOLD OUT)

Apr 28 Boston, MA – The Wilbur (SOLD OUT)

Apr 30 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel (SOLD OUT)

May 01 Jersey City, NJ – White Eagle Hall (SOLD OUT)

May 03 Montreal, QC – L’Astral

May 04 Ottawa, ON – Bronson Centre

May 05 Toronto, ON – Phoenix

May 07 Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre

May 08 Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre

May 09 Cincinnati, OH – Woodward Theater

May 10 Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom

May 11 Memphis, TN – 1884 Lounge (SOLD OUT)

May 13 Bloomington, IN – Buskirk-Chumley Theater

May 14 Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre

May 15 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall

May 16 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall

May 17 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue

Jul 17 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar

Jul 18 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar

Jul 19 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer

Jul 22 Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Lanes

Jul 23 Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater

Jul 24 Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre*

Aug 28 Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall

Aug 29 Jackson, WY – Pink Garter Theatre

Aug 30 Billings, MT – The Pub Station

Aug 31 Missoula, MT – Top Hat Lounge

Sep 01 Spokane, WA – Bing Crosby Theater

Sep 04 Seattle, WA – The Showbox (SOLD OUT)

Sep 05 Seattle, WA – Neumos (SOLD OUT)

Sep 06 Vancouver, BC – Imperial Vancouver

Sep 07 Eugene, OR – McDonald Theatre

Sep 09 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom

Sep 10 Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater (SOLD OUT)

Sep 12 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore (SOLD OUT)

Sep 13 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore (SOLD OUT)

Sep 14 Los Angeles, CA – Belasco Theater

Sep 16 Anaheim, CA – House of Blues

Sep 17 San Diego, CA – House of Blues

Sep 18 Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl

Nov 09 Slaktkyrkan - Stockholm, SE

Nov 10 Rockefeller - Oslo, NO

Nov 11 Pustervik - Gothenburg, SE

Nov 14 De Helling - Utrecht, NL

Nov 15 02 Shepherds bush empire - London, UK

Nov 16 Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, UK

Nov 17 Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, UK

Nov 18 St Luke’s - Glasgow, UK

Nov 20 Button Factory - Dublin, IE

Nov 22 Sala 0 - Madrid, ES

Nov 23 Café Torgal - Ourense, ES

Nov 24 Lisboa ao Vivo - Lisbon, PT

* MRG30 w/ Hiss Golden Messenger, H.C. McEntire

http://www.mountain-goats.com/