PRICE:
$23.00
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Locust Land
FORMAT
LP

LABEL
CATALOG #
DC 876LP DC 876LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
5/24/2024

"Bill MacKay and Drag City are delirious with pride to announce the discovery of a new territory: Locust Land, a record which seeks to reflect the nerve-shredding consciousness run amok in our world today -- and somehow allay it with sound. Bill's music is a visceral crackling where it meets the air, and Locust Land can't help but reflect its era more than any other in his discography. It's been five years since the release of Fountain Fire -- but in the interim, Bill has barely stopped moving, collaborating with artists across the spectrum, including cellist Katinka Kleijn, banjo player Nathan Bowles, and keyboardist Cooper Crain. He's also contributed to recordings by Steve Gunn, Ryley Walker, Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy (Blind Date Party), and Black Duck (on their self-titled record featuring Douglas McCombs and Charles Rumback). Bill's sense of music as art is constantly modulating -- lifting off from where it is found and naturally migrating to some other place. Sometimes, that's elsewhere -- others, it's simply to be found deeper inside the starting point. And so, the action of moving on informs the landscape of Locust Land. Within the arrangements, there's also departure from previous norms -- in addition to the brilliant guitar work for which he is known, Bill plays a variety of keyboards, from piano to organ to synth, extending his music with the available voicings, while enriching the sound field without abandoning his signature brevity. Also different: on his previous solo recordings, Bill played every sound. Here, he has invited other illustrious Chicagoans to join him: Sam Wagster (The Father Costume, Mute Duo) plays bass on three songs, two of which feature the percussion playing of Mikel Patrick Avery (Natural Information Society, Jeff Parker, etc.). Additionally, Janet Beveridge Bean (Eleventh Dream Day, Freakwater) adds otherworldly vocal textures to the elegiac 'Neil's Field.' With cover art also by Bill MacKay (the third of his albums on Drag City to feature his work), Locust Land stands as a thoroughly personal statement from Bill to everyone everywhere."