Final month, the Mountain Goats introduced a brand new album, Jenny From Thebes, billed as a sequel to 2002’s All Hail West Texas. Lead single “Clear Slate” landed on our finest songs of the week listing, and right now John Darnielle is again with the album’s second single, “Contemporary Tattoo,” which options contributions from Bully’s Alicia Bognanno, Matt Douglas and Evan Ringel, and Matt Nathanson.

“I wrote ‘Contemporary Tattoo’ over the course of a number of classes on the piano in March of 2022,” Darnielle stated. “I felt an affinity for the story in it and for the way it developed, and I used to be happy with the track.” He continued:

In December that 12 months, I despatched it to my previous good friend Matt Nathanson, who hosted the open mic evening the place the Mountain Goats obtained their begin again within the early nineties. Come sing on my track, man, I stated, I wouldn’t even be right here with out you. I’ll be there, he stated.

Typically after I go into the studio, I fret that we received’t be capable of translate my alone-with-an-instrument imaginative and prescient to the large room. However what my band, and Trina Shoemaker, and Alicia Bognanno, and good previous Matt Nathanson did with it exceeded even my highest expectations. When Jon breaks into straight 4/4 on the track’s climax it seems like a high-performance automobile rising from a flip right into a straightaway at 120mph at daybreak someplace on the plains.

“‘Contemporary Tattoo’ is the flashpoint within the story of who Jenny is and the way she got here to go away Texas. In it, she will get a tattoo of a defend on her arm, and, on her method dwelling, sees a man who wants assist. This will likely be her final lodger, and it’s her first tattoo, and the day will show to be decisive in her story. Listening to Matt put down the harmonies on it in Tulsa earlier this 12 months was among the finest moments I’ve ever had in my musical life; it meant a lot to make one thing new with him, I wouldn’t even be right here with out him. I’m very joyful to share it with the world right now.

Pay attention under.

Jenny From Thebes is out 10/27 by way of Merge Data.