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Oct 13, 2020 By Christopher Roberts The Mountain Goats

The Mountain Goats are releasing a new album, Getting Into Knives, on October 23 via Merge. Now they have shared another song from it, “Picture of My Dress.” The song inspired by a tweet from poet Maggie Smith (“Good Bones”). According to a press release, her tweet suggested “a simple photo essay involving a woman driving across the country taking pictures of a discarded wedding dress.” Frontman John Darnielle “came across the tweet and was struck by the imagery; he quickly titled the song and got to work, striking up a friendship with Smith in the process.” In the press release Darnielle describes “Picture of My Dress” as “a pop-country song that’s still identifiably the Mountain Goats, universally relatable but still a little cracked.” Listen below.

The Mountain Goats have also announced two ticketed full band online concerts on October 22 and 29, both at 9 a.m. ET and dubbed The Jordan Lake Sessions. They were recorded at Manifold Recording in Pittsboro, North Carolina, and will feature 36 songs from their entire catalog across the two shows, with no repeat songs. Tickets get you 24 access to the concerts. They cost $25 per show and can be bought here.

Getting Into Knives is the follow-up to 2019’s In League With Dragons and was recorded with that album’s engineer, Matt Ross-Spang, now acting as producer, at Sam Phillips Recording in Nashville in the same studio where The Cramps recorded their debut album.

“We would work until midnight and then return to the house where all four of us were staying, directly across the street from the studio, and hang out for hours on the patio,” Darnielle explains in the album’s bio.

Previously the band shared Getting Into Knives’ first single, “As Many Candles As Possible,” via a lyric video for it. “As Many Candles As Possible” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared its second single, “Get Famous,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared a video for “Get Famous,” in which the band are bobbleheads.

In League With Dragons followed 2017’s Goths and 2015’s wrestling-themed Beat the Champ. The band features frontman John Darnielle, drummer Jon Wurster, bassist Peter Hughes, and multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas.

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