[Cover photo credit to Kyle Johnson]
Monsters of Folk, the supergroup comprised of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward, Conor Oberst, and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes), have released the reissue of their self-titled debut via ATO Records. The expanded, 15th-anniversary edition of their one-and-only album is out now on clear vinyl and digital download. A number of multi-colored vinyl options are also available now exclusively via Barnes & Noble, Vinyl Me Please, and Rough Trade.
First released in 2009, Monsters of Folk now sees the original 15-song album joined by five additional studio tracks from a previously unreleased 2012 session featuring “Fifth Monster” Will Johnson (Centro-matic) and including the song “Museum Guard.”
Twenty years ago, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, M. Ward, and Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis came together for a revue-style tour. Taking their moniker from a tongue-in-cheek nickname bestowed by the tour’s road crew, the so-called Monsters of Folk reconvened five years later later and set to work on a self-titled debut album.
Jim James says:
Making this album brought me back to the same feelings I had when I first started a band, or first started playing music in general – there’s a real simplicity and excitement to playing with folks you don’t normally play with,” says Jim James. “The spirit of play is alive on this whole thing.
M. Ward adds:
Debut records have a freedom that can’t be matched, because there’s no history to work from. I just hear the four of us following wherever the songs seem to be leading us.
Mainly produced by producer/engineer/multi-instrumentalist Mogis, Monsters of Folk came to life over a series of sessions at the historic Malibu studio Shangri-La and at Mogis’ own Omaha Another Recording Company in Omaha, NE.
ATO’s Monsters of Folk reissue features an additional batch of songs recorded in 2012 alongside Will Johnson of Centro-matic. Those five tracks include “Disappeared” and “Museum Guard”, and were initially meant to accompany a dystopic sci-fi film based on a screenplay penned by Oberst, a project that was eventually shelved.
Conor Oberst reflects:
It was amazing to have a ringside seat for the way Jim and M make records. Jim’s outside-the-box knack for soul and harmony and M’s sense of space and songcraft were so inspiring and invaluable to me then, and continue to be to this day.
MONSTERS OF FOLK
(ATO Records)
TRACKLIST
1. Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)
2. Say Please
3. Whole Lotta Losin’
4. Temazcal
5. The Right Place
6. Baby Boomer
7. Man Named Truth
8. Goodway
9. Ahead Of The Curve
10. Slow Down Jo
11. Losin Yo Head
12. Magic Marker
13. Map Of The World
14. The Sandman, The Brakeman And Me
15. His Master’s Voice
16. Dear to the Assassin *
17. Sweet Silence *
18. The Living Thing *
19. Museum Guard *
20. Disappeared *
* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS
