Empty Country, the current focus of Cymbals Eat Guitars‘ Joseph D’Agostino, have announced their sophomore album, Empty Country II, due November 3 via Get Better Records (pre-order). It was made with producer John Agnello, who also helmed Cymbals Eat Guitars’ cult classic 2014 album LOSE, and made at R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter’s Kernersville, NC studio Fidelitorium. “Mitch has collected an astounding array of weird mics, amplifiers, and oddball orchestral instruments: organs, Buddhist temple bells, bar chimes, tubular bells,” says Joe.
The album was made after Joe moved from Philly to a small town in New England to be closer to his family, and much of it is said to be inspired by experiencing the darker side of America firsthand, after leaving a largely-liberal city. “It’s pretty jarring to leave a city—where you can safely assume you’re aligned with your neighbors on many political and social issues — for somewhere more rural and conservative,” Joe says. There’s also a song called “David” that was written in tribute to Joe’s late friend David Berman of Silver Jews and Purple Mountains, who Empty Country was supposed to open for before David’s passing.
The album begins with the towering recent single “Pearl,” and it also includes new single “Erkling,” which Joe co-wrote with his partner/frequent collaborator Rachel Browne of Field Mouse. Like “Pearl,” it’s a big, climactic indie rock song, and a testament to the fact that Joe continues to write some of the most urgent music of his career, nearly 15 years after Cymbals Eat Guitars’ hyped debut. Here’s what Joe says about it:
“Erlking” takes its name from “Erlkönig” Goethe’s famous poem depicting the death of a child stalked by a supernatural being. Though I wrote this song on the day of the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, the “20 kids” referenced are the Sandy Hook children. In the parallel version of the American dystopia I depict in Empty Country II, Erlkings are ultraterrestrial demons that stalk the innocent and infect the minds of men. These entities’ lives span eons. To them, the whole of our country’s pernicious history is as brief as a Chopin prelude or a TV jingle. One short verse/ 13 Bars/ The force of 50 collapsing stars.
Check out the song and its Zoë Browne-shot video below.
Empty Country also play a NYC release show on November 3 at Knitting Factory at Baker Falls with Greg Freeman, followed by a London show on November 21.
Tracklist
01. Pearl
02. Erlking
03. David
04. Dustine
05. Syd
06. Bootsie
07. FLA
08. Lamb
09. Cool S